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Advertising 

The  Social  and  Economic 
Problem 


Advertising 

The  Social  and  Economic  Problem 
By  George  French 


New  York 

The  Ronald  Press  Company 

1915 


Copyright  1915  by 
The  Ronald  Press  Company 


..^^> 


>*'•  ,fi 


The  William  G.  Hewitt  Press 
Brooklyn,  New  York 


Dedicated  to 

Pilgrim  Publicity  Association 

of  New  England 


337877 


Apologia 


In  the  modern  revolution  of  business,  advertising 
is  destined  to  play  a  much  greater  part  than  its 
present  suggests,  even  as  the  significance  of  the 
business  revolution  is  not  perceived,  or  being  par- 
tially perceived,  is  underrated. 

The  application  of  advertising  to  business  is  as 
yet  tentative.  Its  possibilities  are  not  realized.  Yet 
it  is  now  of  vastly  more  consequence  than  we  can 
understand  or  estimate.  It  is  changing  all  the  proc- 
esses of  business,  and  most  of  the  manifestations  of 
social  and  religious  life. 

This  book  seeks  to  suggest  what  advertising  is 
doing  and  what  it  will  do.  It  is  a  cursory  view.  No 
other  is  possiblel  Among  the  sciences  advertising  is 
a  maverick;  it  has  not  been  corralled  nor  branded. 
Among  the  arts  it  is  a  stray  lamb ;  not  considered  of 
consequence.  Among  the  professions  it  is  without 
phice  or  rating — an  intruder  without  credentials.  In 


business  it  is  a  saint  or  a  sinner  according  as  it  has 
distributed  its  largess.  \ 

As  advertising  has  no  established  standards  as  a 
science,  an  art,  a  profession,  or  a  business,  it  has  no 
binding  traditions  and  but  few  precedents  to  con- 
sider. It  is  pertinent,  therefore,  for  every  observer  to 
follow  his  individual  bent,  to  have  opinions  and  ex- 
press them.  None  can  contradict,  none  can  prohibit. 
The  writer  of  this  book  has  set  down  some  of  his 
ideas,  and  some  of  the  ideas  of  others,  in  the  en- 
deavor to  picture  advertising  as  it  is.  He  is  quite 
willing  to  assume  responsibility  for  all  that  seems 

[7] 


Apologia 

beside  the  mark,   and  to  credit  the  bull's-eyes   to 
whoever  may  lay  claim  to  them. 

The  study  and  observation  of  advertising  is  one  of 
the  more  stimulating  of  the  mental  exercises  this  cen- 
tury challenges  us  with.  It  leads  far  into  the  future, 
though  we  do  not  have  to  go  far  into  the  past  to  lose 
its  trail.  It  suggests  great  things — great  changes 
in  business  methods,  advances  in  the  application  of 
religion  and  the  humanities  to  life,  the  general 
sharpening  of  the  keen  edge  of  living.  Through  it 
the  greater  sciences,  the  more  subtle  arts,  the  more 
splendid  faiths,  and  the  prof ounder  sentiments,  make 
a  deeper  impress  upon  our  lives.\By  its  means  busi- 
ness is  becoming  a  predictable  science.  It  is  a  guest 
at  every  fireside.  It  is  present  at  every  wedding, 
birth,  and  death.  It  is  the  Frankenstein  of  our  lives, 
and  their  good  angel.  We  are  not  more  free  from  it 
than  from  the  atmosphere.  It  intrudes  everywhere, 
and  is  everywhere  a  welcome  guest.  It  is  good  and 
bad.  It  helps  and  hinders.  It  may  be  an  economy  or 
an  expense.  It  is  as  fluid  as  life,  but  as  fixed  and 
inexorable  as  fate.  It  is  as  transparent  as  crystal, 
and  as  opaque  as  iron.  It  is  what  it  is.  I  am  trying  to 
picture  what  it  is — and  what  it  does. 

August,  1914. 


[8] 


Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     Introduction 11  '     "^ 

II     General  Principles  and  Methods 23  ^ 

III  Science  and  Art  in  Advertising 44 

IV  Who  Pays  the  Cost? 59 

V     Misleading  Advertising 70  *^ 

^     VI     Ethics  of  Advertising 80 

s     VII     Social  Effects  of  Advertising 95  V^"^ 

VIII     Church  Advertising Ill 

IX     Efficient  Advertislng^_^^__^_^. 123 

X     The  Advertising  Man 136 

y    XI     How  the  People  Take  It 151      "^ 

XII     The  Need  of  Research 164 

XIII     Present-Day  Mediums 174  ^^ 

XIV     Mediums  of  the  Future 190       ''' 

XV     The  Agents 199 

XVI     The  Advertisement 215 

7    Appendix — "Truth  in  Advertising" 

[9] 


Introduction 


Advertising  is  a  real  part  of  modern  life;  there  is 
almost  no  phase  of  living  that  it  has  not  invaded.  It 
is  a  great  factor  in  progress.  It  has  been  a  great 
influence  for  bad,  but  in  some  of  its  functions  it  is 
coming  to  be  a  beneficent  force.  When  skilfully  ap- 
plied, it  has  a  power  over  people  which  is  possessed 
by  no  other  element  of  business  or  social  life,  and  it 
may  be  so  used  as  to  be  one  of  the  great  agents  of 
civilization. 

That  advertising  has  generally  been  used  for  busi- 
ness purposes  merely  signifies  that  its  development 
has  not  reached  a  stage  at  which  many  peQple  feel 
warranted  in  employing  it  to  promote  social,  moral, 
or  religious,  ends.  So  far  as  it  has  been  employed 
for  the  advancement  of  religion  or  morals  it  has  been 
used  in  a  business  manner  and  for  business  ends — for 
the  augmentation  of  audiences,  the  raising  of  special 
funds,  the  moving  of  selected  groups  of  people  for 
special  and  temporary  purposes.  Its  principles  have 
not  yet  been  applied  to  the  task  of  swaying  people's 
lives  in  a  fundamental  fashion  for  permanent  pur- 
poses* 

Advertising  has  already  exercised  a  profound  influ- 
ence upK)n  the  economic  lives  of  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  the  people  of  all  civilized  countries,  more 
notably  those  of  America.  The  real  grip  of  advertis- 
ing upon  the  lives  of  the  common  people  was  mani- 

[11] 


Advertising 

fested  earlier  and  more  strongly  in  America  than 
elsewhere.  In  England  the  popular  response  to  adver- 
tising has  more  notably  manifested  itself  within  the 
past  two  decades,  while  in  France  and  Germany  it  has 
not  yet  obtained  that  hold  upon  the  imagination  nor 
become  so  vital  a  factor  in  the  daily  lives  of  the 
masses  as  in  the  United  States.  In  the  other  Latin, 
and  Latin-American,  countries  its  work  has  scarcely 
begun. 

While  certain  lines  of  advertising  have  flourished 
in  England  for  many  years,  it  is  only  within  the  past 
ten  years  that  what  we  may  call  retail  advertising 
on  a  large  scale,  has  been  the  important  factor  in 
trade  that  it  was  in  this  country  for  many  years 
previously.  The  invasion  of  Great  Britain  some  ten 
years  ago  by  a  group  of  American  subscription 
booksellers,  and  their  spectacular  success  in  selling 
to  the  British  people  through  advertising,  was  an 
event  of  classic  significance — a  wonderful  perform- 
ance— and  its  history  is  in  the  nature  of  incontro- 
vertible evidence  as  to  the  efficiency  of  advertising 
methods  in  enterprises  that  involve  the  swaying  of 
great  bodies  of  people.  The  details  of  this  series  of 
transactions  in  advertising  have  not  as  yet  been 
authoritatively  furnished  by  the  men  who  were  back 
of  the  revolution  in  selling  that  swept  over  those 
islands. 

Three  American  book  canvassers  went  to  London, 
with  the  fruits  of  their  work  in  this  country  in  the 
form  of  certificates  of  deposit  in  the  London  banks, 
looked  over  the  field,  formulated  their  plans,   and, 

[12] 


Introduction 

as  their  first  definite  move,  went  to  interview  Mr. 
Walter,  then  chief  owner  and  absolute  master  of  the 
great  British  Thunderer — the  London  Times — pro- 
posing to  him  a  cooperative  campaign  of  bookselling 
on  a  grand  scale.  Mr.  Walter  peremptorily  declined 
to  consider  the  matter,  feeling  that  it  was  not  con- 
sonant with  the  dignity  of  The  Times  to  engage  in  a 
scheme  of  the  character  proposed.  But  the  Americans 
were  accustomed  to  deal  eventually  with  men  who  at 
first  absolutely  declined  to  deal  with  them,  and  by 
patient  diplomacy  they  finallj^  got  Mr.  Walter  to 
suggest  terms  that  would  induce  him  to  take  up  the 
proposition.  He,  in  his  turn,  thought  the  Americans 
had  unwittingly  opened  the  way  for  his  escape  from 
their  importunities.  He  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  the 
ordeal  to  which  he  was  being  subjected — the  extraor- 
dinary experience  of  having  to  listen  to  argument 
intended  to  persuade  the  all-powerful  manager  of  the 
mighty  Times  to  reverse  his  dictum.  He  said  he  would 
consider  the  plan — would  in  fact  engage  in  the  busi- 
ness— if  the  Americans  would,  as  a  retainer  and  evi- 
dence of  financial  ability  and  good  faith,  give  him  a 
certified  check  for  £60,000.  He  did  not  imagine  that 
this  was  exactly  the  opening  the  Americans  wished, 
and  was  astounded  when  one  of  them  asked  to  be 
excused  for  a  short  time,  and  presently  returned  with 
a  certified  check,  which  was  handed  to  Mr.  Walter. 
That  perfect  flower  of  the  modern  Englishman 
showed  that  he  was  a  good  sport,  and  promptly 
signed  the  contract,  though  it  is  certain  that  he 
would  much  rather  have  thrown  the  check  into  the 

[13] 


Advertising 

fire  if  by  so  doing  he  could  have  escaped  from  going 
before  the  British  people  with  a  scheme  so  novel,  so 
American,  and,  as  he  believed,  so  likely  to  fail.  But 
he  reckoned  without  true  knowledge  of  his  country- 
men, as  well  as  without  a  just  conception  of  the  pli- 
ability and  wisdom  of  the  plans  the  Americans  had 
formulated  for  their  campaign.  The  following  few 
years  saw  a  revolution  in  advertising  and  selling  such 
as  had  never  been  concentrated  into  so  short  a  time. 
The  Americans  took  due  account  of  the  English  tem- 
perament, prejudices,  foibles,  history,  social  and 
business  customs,  and  appealed  along  agreeable,  cus- 
tomary, and  racial,  lines. 

This  series  of  bookselling  campaigns  drew  the  at- 
tention of  the  English  as  never  before  to  advertising 
as  a  great  business  force,  but  the  lesson  did  not  reach 
the  roots  of  retailing  habits  and  methods.  It  remained 
for  another  American  to  invade  London  with  a  great 
department  store,  which  he  promoted  by  methods  de- 
veloped by  the  successful  department  store  managers 
in  America.  This  happened  some  five  or  six  years 
ago,  and,  though  the  English  have  not  even  yet  ac- 
cepted advertising  as  an  inevitable  factor  in  success- 
ful merchandising  to  the  extent,  or  with  the  abandon, 
we  in  America  have  accepted  it,  they  are  among  the 
"most  favored  nations"  in  that  respect,  and  will  in 
due  time  come  to  the  plane  of  those  Americans  who 
frankly  base  their  hopes  for  profit  and  continuation 
in  business  upon  scientific  advertising. 

In  France  and  Germany  there  is  much  advertising, 
and  in  Germany  especially  there  is  high-grade  adver- 

[14] 


Introduction 

tising.  In  those  countries,  however,  advertising  is  not 
yet  considered  a  necessary  fundamental  in  all  lines  of 
business,  and  has  therefore  a  more  strictly  commer- 
cial significance  than  in  America.  In  some  of  its 
elements  advertising  has  reached  a  high  state  of  de- 
velopment in  Germany,  where  it  is  given  great  promi- 
nence as  a  branch  of  the  graphic  arts.  But  this 
feeling  for  art  does  not  extend  beyond  the  physical 
appearance  of  the  advertisement,  which  is  made  in 
accord  with  the  canons  of  art  chiefly  because  it  is 
thought  to  be  an  object  of  art,  rather  than,  as  in 
America,  because  it  is  recognized  that  observance  of 
the  elementary  principles  of  art  gives  it  a  greater 
psychological  influence  over  the  reader.  The  insist- 
ence of  the  Germans  for  their  art  canons  in  all  the 
manifestations  of  advertising  has  had  a  salutary 
eff^ect  upon  advertising  in  America,  and  for  that 
reason  we  are  persuaded  to  count  the  Germans  as 
among  the  progressive  peoples  in  the  proper  develop- 
ment of  advertising. 

In  no  other  country  has  advertising  put  its  mark^ 
upon  the  people  with  anything  like  the  intensity  it 
has  in  America.  Here  we  are  slaves  of  conditions  im- 
posed by  advertising.  The  economy  of  our  homes  has 
been  revolutionized.  So  radically  emphatic  and  inclu- 
sive has  been  this  change  that  it  is  a  matter  of  grave 
speculation  as  to  what  may  be  the  ultimate  social, 
moral,  religious,  and  economic,  eff^ects  upon  the 
people. 

When  we  take  a  little  time  to  reflect,  in  the  light  of 
a  generation  ago,  we  cannot  fail  to  be  profoundly 

[16] 


Advertising 

Impressed  with  the  sweeping  radicahsm  of  the  change 
that  has  come  over  our  hves  with  respect  to  the 
economy  of  living.  If  we  take  an  inventory  of  things 
we  are  compelled  to  purchase  for  the  maintenance  of 
life,  with  all  its  necessities  and  luxuries,  we  shall 
realize  how  completely  we  are  enthralled  by  the  ad- 
vertised articles.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  buy  many 
of  the  things  in  the  form  to  which  we  were  accus- 
tomed in  childhood.  Instead  of  going  to  the  baker's 
and  getting  a  bag  of  fresh-baked  crackers,  direct 
from  the  oven,  hot  to  the  touch,  and  delicious  on  the 
palate,  we  must  be  content  with  a  carton  of  "bis- 
cuits," half  the  weight  of  our  early-day  bag,  and  less 
than  half  the  quality,  at  two  or  three  times  the  price. 
In  this  and  in  many  other  cases  advertising  has 
forced  us  thus  to  increase  the  cost,  and  diminish  the 
quality,  of  living.  Whatever  may  be  said  for  the 
sanitary  sealed  package  (and  there  is  a  good  argu- 
ment) there  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  we 
are  paying  more  for  many  of  the  necessities  of  life, 
and  getting  them  in  a  form  devised  by  advertisers 
without  our  consent.  Whether  or  not,  on  the  whole, 
we  are  receiving  greater  value  with  these  things  that 
advertising  has  imposed  upon  us  is  one  of  the  prob- 
lems concerning  which  there  is  a  mass  of  expressed 
opinion,  but  little  conclusive  evidence. 

Whatever  may  be  the  record  and  responsibihty  of 
advertising  in  the  matter  of  the  increased  cost  of 
living,  its  effect  upon  hfe  and  happiness  has  been  of 
a  graver  nature  in  other  directions.  It  has  been  re- 
sponsible for  the  introduction  into  living  of  a  great 

[16] 


Introduction 

many  elements  that  are  confessedly  damaging.  Take  ^1 
the  whole  range  of  "patent  medicines,"  so-called  "pro-  / 
prietary  articles,"   a  large  proportion  of  patented  J 
devices  and  processes,  the  "cut-priced"  sales  of  the  ' 
big  stores,  and  innumerable  things  that  are  useless  as 
adjuncts   to   real   life — they   are  to   be  included   in 
whatever   indictment   we   may   be   inclined   to   draw 
against  advertising.  There  is  so  much  output  from 
the  ignorant  and  the  "suckers"  that  it  seems  allow- 
able that  there  should  be  some  kind  of  a  scramble  for 
it.  The  blame  is  fundamentally  with  the  people  who 
go  about  with  their  purses  open  to  the  view  of  ambi- 
tious and  thrifty  collectors.  Our  consolation  is  that^ 
advertising,  as  a  profession,  is  taking  effective  cogni-  ( 
zance  of  these  conditions,  and  that  as  a  consequence  / 
they  will  disappear  in  the  not  distant  future.  But  i 
they  have  prevailed  long  enough  to  have  materially 
affected  our  lives,  and  they  have  bred  up  habits  that 
will  continue  to  influence  the  lives  of  our  children  and 
children's  children ;  to  puzzle  and  confound  the  so- 
ciologists and  psychologists,  to  deflect  and  modify 
our   posterity;   and  to  discredit  advertising  in   the 
minds  of  observers  who  do  not  go  to  the  root  of  the 
matter. 

It  is  difficult  to  form  an  adequate  conception  of  the 
harm  that  has  been  done  through  advertising  in  fos- 
tering the  purchase  of  things  that  are  not  only  of 
no  real  benefit  to  people  but  are  a  positive  damage;  j 
such,  for  example,  as  the  many  "sets"  of  books  that 
have  been  sold  on  the  instalment  plan  through  pro- 
fuse advertising,  mostly  in  magazines  and  weeklies. 

[H] 


Advertising 

These  books  are  not  in  themselves  especially  harmful. 
They  are  usually  sold  at  too  high  prices,  and  under 
pretenses  that  are  essentially  false.  From  the  point  of 
view  of  good  literature,  good  history,  correct  science, 
or  useful  and  timely  general  information,  they  fall 
below  what  should  be  regarded  as  a  reasonable  stand- 
ard of  excellence.  Some  of  the  sets  that  have  had  the 
largest  sales,  and  have  made  great  profits  for  their 
exploiters,  are  old  and  out  of  date.  They  may  have 
been  subjected  to  "revision"  which  scarcely  sufficed  to 
remove  the  taint  of  age  and  inefficiency.  They  are 
cheaply  made,  and  sold  at  prices  that  are  too  high 
for  value  given.  Through  the  help  of  liberal,  and  not 
too  frank,  advertising  they  have  been  sold  in  great 
quantities,  and  the  homes  and  minds  of  the  people 
loaded  with  "literature"  unworthy  the  name  and  not 
up  to  the  claims  made  for  it. 

The  matter  of  patent  medicines  has  been  pretty 
well  discussed  and  ventilated.  Their  advertisements 
are  barred  from  some  of  the  better  magazines  and 
newspapers,  but  are  still  admitted  to  many  periodi- 
cals that  have  large  circulations  among  people  living 
remote  from  the  centers  of  population ;  and  their 
promoters  make  use  of  advertising  methods  of  their 
own.  This  particular  evil,  practically  created  and 
continued  through  advertising,  is  likely  to  disappear. 
The  fact  that  reputable  publications  are  barring 
patent  medicine  advertising  is  helping  to  kill  its  use. 
The  more  potent  cause  that  is  operating  to  discredit 
it  in  the  minds  of  the  people  is  the  recent  great  re- 
form in  medicine,  so  far  as  the  simplification  of  its 

[18] 


Introduction 

methods  and  the  growing  knowledge  of  the  people  is 
concerned. 

Side  partner  of  this  matter  of  the  cure  of  distem- 
pers and  disease  goes  the  matter  of  diet,  and  here 
also  advertising  has  much  to  answer  for — more  now 
than  ever  before.  It  cannot  be  said  that  in  the  matter 
of  foods  we  are  making  great  progress,  or  that  ad- 
vertising is,  as  a  whole,  very  much  less  culpable  now 
than  ever.  How  large  a  proportion  of  the  food  prepa- 
rations that  are  sold  through  advertising  are  fit  to  be 
eaten  is  a  question  that  even  Dr.  Wiley,  or  Alfred 
McCann,  might  not  be  able  categorically  to  answer. 
The  methods  of  the  poor  food  seller  are  subtle,  skil- 
ful, scientific,  and  inexorable.  Recent  scientific  dis- 
coveries have  made  an  entirely  new  line  of  frauds  pos- 
sible. Our  foods  are  now  corrupted  in  such  skilful 
fashion  that  it  is  quite  out  of  the  power  of  buyers  to 
protect  themselves.  It  is  impossible  to  know  whether 
an  article  of  package  food  is  prepared  as  it  should 
be  or  as  it  should  not  be,  except  by  chemical  analysis. 
The  new  brand  of  syrup,  or  sugar,  or  breakfast 
food;  the  ham,  bacon,  sausage,  beef,  pork,  poultry, 
fish;  the  flour,  meal,  bread,  cake  or  piep;  the  spices, 
salt,  flavorings,  jellies;  the  canned  fruits,  vegetables, 
and  other  fundamentals  of  our  foods,  may  be,  and 
often  are,  so  "doctored,"  in  substance  or  manipula- 
tion, as  to  make  their  sale  and  advertising  partake 
of  fraud,  in  greater  or  less  degree;  and  all  of  the 
element  of  fraud,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  fostered  and 
imposed  upon  the  buyers  through  advertising — that 
is, /to  the   extent   that  the  material  and   the   state- 

'  [19] 


Advertising 

ments  about  it  are  insincere,  deceptive  and  fraudu- 
lent. 

In  many  ways  that  cannot  be  specified,  because 
this  study  is  not  intended  as  an  arraignment  of  ad- 
vertising but  as  a  justification  of  it,  advertising  has 
contributed,  and  is  contributing,  to  moral,  physical, 
and  economic  degradation.  To  assume  less  would  be 
to  adopt  the  methods  of  deceptive  advertisers,  and  to 
neglect  a  phase  of  advertising  which,  while  deplor- 
able, does  exist. 

In  any  fair  view  of  advertising  it  is  to  be  claimed 
that  on  the  whole  it  is  becoming  a  beneficent  force  in 
life,  and  the  very  distinct  tendency  is  toward  such  use 
of  its  tremendous  power  as  shall  contribute  to  the 
betterment  of  life.  This  view  is  shared  by  a  large  and 
rapidly  increasing  portion  of  the  advertising  profes- 
sion, and  a  larger  number  of  professional  advertising 
men  are  yearly  coming  upon  the  platform  declaring 
that  the  only  good  advertising  is  that  which  works 
for  the  good  of  the  people  who  are  to  read  and  be  in- 
fluenced by  it.  Many  of  the  grounds  for  criticism 
that  have  been  referred  to  are  already  passing  be- 
yond debatable  consideration.  Most  good  advertising 
men  condemn  patent-medicine  and  all  other  advertis- 
ing that  is  not  constructive  and  moral  in  its  nature 
and  object,  and  use  their  influence  against  it.  Most 
good  periodicals  take  the  same  ground,  though  many 
of  them  still  make  reservations  in  favor  of  the  adver- 
tisers who  pay  good  rates  and  give  large  contracts. 
Not  all  publishers  can  bring  themselves  to  quite 
ignore  that  vile  old  legal  maxim,  "Caveat  Emptor." 

[20] 


• 


Introduction 

The  most  promising  factor  in  advertising  at  the 
present  moment  is  a  disposition  to  regard  it  as  a 
positive  and  militant  power  for  good  in  the  world. 
The  passive  morality  that  bars  fraudulent  and  decep- 
tive advertising  is  already  regarded  as  not  the  best 
attitude.  Beside  barring  bad  advertising  there  is  a 
disposition  to  encourage  advertisers  of  staple  goods 
to  inject  a  welfare  element  into  their  announcements 
— show  that  their  goods  may  be  used  for  some  benefit 
to  the  buyer  other  than  the  economic  and  utilitarian 
benefits ;  how  they  may,  for  example,  be  made  to  con- 
tribute to  the  happiness  of  the  family  or  the  solidar- 
ity and  sociability  of  the  neighborhood,  even  though 
such  use  may  apparently  not  only  not  increase  sales 
but  possibly  limit  them. 

When  all  is  said  that  can  be  said  for  advertising 
as  a  moral  or  economic  force  in  society,  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  all  of  its  recent  devotion  to  ethics 
and  economics  does  not  suggest  anything  more,  or 
higher,  than  that  it  is  seeking  to  relieve  itself  of  a 
certain  odium  that  has  accumulated  against  it  as  the  Tj 
conscious  assistant  to  unworthy  efforts  to  dupe  or  '" 
defraud  the  people.  The  new  devotion  to  truth  and 
the  fair  deal  does  not  contemplate  much  other  than  a 
return  to  the  lines  of  the  most  obvious,  the  most  per- 
functory, honesty.  "Thou  shalt  not  steal"  applies  to 
advertising,  and  advertisers  are  just  getting  in  a 
mood  to  acknowledge  their  obligation  under  the  com- 
mandment. "Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness"  has 
been  as  vital  for  a  time  long  prior  to  the  existence 
of  modern  advertising  as  now,  though  advertisers  are 

[21] 


Advertising 

but  now  slowly  coming  to  a  realization  that  false  and 
misleading  advertising  comes  under  the  ban  of  this 
law.  AVhen  all  advertising  is  brought  up  to  the  stand- 
ards of  the  idealists,  it  will  be  merely  honest. 


[22] 


f 


General  Principles  and 
Methods 

History  docs  not  inform  us  of  a  time  when  there 

was  not  advertising — the  effort  of  some  people  to 

induce  some  other  people  to  buy  something  or  do 

/something.  The  desire  to  influence  the  actions  of  their 

I  fellows  seems  to  have  been  the  motive  that  gave  rise 

^  .to  the  origin  of  written  language.  The  first  known 

/  symbol  is  thought  to  have  originally  signified  a  desire 

I    for  cooperative  effort.  This  motive  has  shaped  the 

world.  If  men  did  not  cooperate  there  would  be  no 

men. 

Advertising  is  invitation  to  cooperate.  The  adver-<^ 
tiser  invites  his  readers  to  take  some  specified  action 
that  he  believes  will  result  in  benefits  to  himself.     To 
make  his  appeal  plausible  and  effective,  the  advertiser 
usually  alleges  his  ability  and  willingness  to  benefit 
the  respondent — the  moved  reader  of  his  announce- 
ment.    Thus  is  set  up  the  principle  of  cooperation. 
It  is  this  power  or  disposition  to  benefit  the  readers 
that  constitutes  the  attraction  power  of  the  adver-     , 
tisement.     And  it  is  the  measure  of  fulfilment,  on  the 
part  of  the  advertiser,  of  the  implicit  and  implied    } 
promises  of  the  advertisement  that  fixes  his  moral 
status. 

This  principle  has  become  so  operative  that  it  is 
regarded  as  uneconomic  to  publish  advertisements 
that  do  not  rest  upon  the  ability  and  willingness  of 

[23] 


Advertising 

the  advertiser  to  keep  faith  with  the  people  who  read 
and  may  respond  to  his  appeals.  Thus  it  happens 
that  the  value  of  the  square  deal  in  business  is  being 
demonstrated  through  that  branch  of  business  that 
has,  in  its  formative  period,  done  as  much  as  any 
other  to  corrupt  the  whole  field  of  business,  and  instil 
in  the  minds  of  that  portion  of  the  people  who  are 
exclusively  purchasers  a  feeling  that  it  is  the  chief 
office  of  advertising  to  mislead  and  deceive  and 
defraud. 

While  the  principles  upon  which  advertising  rests 

have  been  ingrained  in  the  constitution  and  practice 

of  the  people  since  prehistoric  times,  it  is  only  since 

the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  there  has 

[been   anything   approaching  a   separation   of   those 

I  principles  for  the  purposes  of  modern  advertising. 

[The    art    of    persuading    people    is    a    product    of 

these  times,  and  it  is  yet  in  a  very  crude  state  of 

development. 

/^  What  is  meant  by  advertising  is  something  very 

fS  y  different  from  the  definition  of  the  latest  dictionary 

/'  "^  — "To  give  public  notice  of;  to  announce  publicly, 

(^^especially  by  a  printed  notice."  This  was  the  idea  of 

advertising  in  the  old  days,  when  the  merchant  was 

content  to  print  the  fact  of  the  arrival  at  his  store  of 

a  shipment  of  New  Orleans  molasses,  or  of  Scotch 

ginghams.  Such  a  conception  of  advertising  is  now 

not  only  inadequate,  but  false  and  misleading.     It  is 

/  now  one  of  the  minor  functions   of  advertising  to 

1  A         I    announce  or  give  notice.   Its  major  function   is   to 

^  !   persuade. 

[24] 


Principles  and  Methods 


Merchants  are  now  sellers  in  a  radically  different 
sense  from  that  of  a  less  strenuous  time.  They  used 
to  offer  goods,  and  await  the  necessity  or  pleasure  of 
the  people.  They  supplied  the  necessities  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  the  people  themselves  developed  their  needs 
and  nursed  their  propensities  to  purchase.  They 
visited  their  merchants  when  there  had  been  developed 
in  their  lives  certain  necessities.  They  bought  goods 
because  they  had  been  made  aware  of  the  emptiness 
of  their  larders  or  the  wearing  out  of  their  cloth-, 
ing.  The  new  things  they  bought  were  needed  to 
supply  the  places  of  those  consumed. 

The  motive  of  advertising  has  changed.  It  is  now 
the  reverse  of  that  which  the  dictionary  notes,  and 
that  which  animated  advertising  in  the  older  days. 
Jts  office  now  is  to  develop  the  need  or  the  desire.  It 
ignores  the  necessity,  for  the  most  part.  At  the  best, 
the  necessities  of  the  people  form  but  one  of  the 
less  considered  elements  of  advertising,  as  it  is  now 
understood  and  practiced.  The  advertiser  bends  his 
energies  to  the  task  of  persuading  people  to  purchase 
his  goods.  He  does  not  inquire  wliethcr  tlicre  is  ;i  real 
need  for  his  goods,  and  usually  he  does  not  /concern 
himself  about  their  utility  in  economic  life.  He  often 
not  only  manufactures  the  goods,  but,  through  his 
advertising,  he  essays  to  manufacture  the  demand  for 
them — to  create,  in  other  words,  a  necessity  in  the 
lives  of  the  people  that  has  no  economic  or  moral 
basis  in  fact. 

Not  all  advertisers  are  animated  by  a  motive  like 
this.  Some  of  them  attempt  to  seek  out  real  needs  and 

[SO] 


Advertising 

cater  to  satisfy  them.  But  whether  the  motive  is  to 
seek  out  real  needs  or  to  create  fictitious  needs,  the 


What  he  and  his  successors  did  for  you 

Milk  IS  the  most  necessary  single  article  of  food  in  the  world, 
but  milk  IS  more  susceptible  to  contamination  than  almost  any 
other  food.  Ft  is  essential  that  milk  should  be  plentiful  and 
accessible,  but  it  is  equally  essential  that  it  should  be  pure. 


TTie  man  who  first  realized  these  facts  and 
then  invented  the  processes  which  made  it 
possible  for  the  entire  world  to  have  pure  milk 
at  any  time,  in  any  quantity  and  under  all 
conditions,  was  Gail  Borden.  He  invented 
condensed  milk,  he  introduced  the  syitent 
which  takes  care  of  the  milk  from  the  cow  to 
your  cup  in  its  pristine  purity,  a  system  pre- 
ceding  strict    governmental   regulations   but 


found  in  accord  with  them  when  introduced. 
Gail  Borden  left  behind  him  an  organization 
that  has  grown  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world 
for  the  handling  of  milk,  an  organization 
inspired  by  his  zeal,  his  honesty  and  his  ability, 
an  organization  which  has  made  his  name  a  syn- 
onym for  milk— fresh— condensed-  evaporated 
—cultured — malted— every  form  of  milk,  but 
always  pure  and  always  good. 


Bordcfi'i  Ruid  Milk  is  Mnmi        "m  0"  Tf    X"  TT  X  Borden'.  I 

N..  York.  .„d  on.  i„  th.c,o        1  V  A  X   J_^  XV        P-p.Kd  „ 

BORDEN'S  CONDENSED  MILK  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK,  V.  S.  A. 


Almost  a  Model  Advertisement 


motive  for  modern   advertising  runs   along  the  at- 
tempt to  persuade  people  to  consider  and  buy  the 

[26] 


Principles  and  Methods 

goods  advertised,  rather  than  merely  to  give  infoi*- 
mation   regarding  the   receipt  or  nature  of  goods  1 
advertised.  f 

The  present  estimation  of /advertising  is  that  it 
a  means  for  getting  people  to  a  sense  of  the  pro- 
posals of  the  advertisers — a  method  of  influencing 
"people  to  subordinate  their  own  judgment  to  the  su 
gestions  of  the  advertisers.  The  ^Treat  p^^-pose  o 
almost  all  the  present  day  advertising  is  to  persuad* 
people  to  do  that  which  the  advertiser  wishes  them 
to  do,  rather  than  serious  attempts  to  picture  to  the 
minds  of  the  readers  the  nature  and  advantages  of  \ 
the  things  advertised.  .,jr 

It  is  but  a  few  years  since  this  fundamental  of 
advertising  was  discovered  and  put  into  practice.  At 
first  it  took  the  form  of  what  has  been  known  as  the 
"command"  in  advertising,  and  its  first  manifestation 
was  the  coupon.  When  the  late  Ralph  Tilton,  a  son 
of  the  famous  Theodore  Tilton,  devised  the  coupon 
to  use  in  connection  with  advertising  he  marked  the 
turning  of  advertising  from  the  informative;  to  the 
persuading  phase  of  its  development.  When!  it  was 
found  that  people  would  obey  the  command  of  the 
advertiser,  expressed  in  the  wording  of  the  coupon, 
and  would  cut  off,  fill  in  and  forward,  the  little  forms, 
the  advertising  profession  was  given  its  first  lesson  in 
that  rapid  and  marvellous  development  which  has 
brought  it  distinctly  within  that  rather  new  science 
of  psychology,  as  it  has  recently  been  developed. 

The  coupon  seems  like  a  very  crude  and  obvious 
device.  It  is  usually  couched  in  imperative  language. 

[27] 


Advertising 

It  consists  of  a  direct  command  to  the  reader  to  fill 
in  his  name  and  address  and  mail  the  coupon  to  the 
advertiser  at  once.  The  time  command  is  very  impera- 
tive. Nothing  is  left  for  the  judgment  of  the  reader. 
He  is  impressed  with  the  idea  that  if  he  delays  or 
dallies  he  will  lose  something  in  the  nature  of  a  spe- 
cial providence. 

The  coupon  at  once  proved  its  remarkable  effi- 
ciency. It  brought  returns  such  as  the  most  sanguine 
advertisers  had  theretofore  not  dreamed  of.  It  be- 
came all  the  rage  in  advertising.  So  effective  did  it 
prove,  and  to  such  an  extent  was  it  used,  that  it 
became  the  subject  of  official  attention  on  the  part  of 
the  postoffice  authorities,  who  were  inclined  to  take 
a  hand  in  the  regulation  of  advertising  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preventing  the  United  States  mail  becoming  a 
party  to  fraudulent  advertising.  The  size  of  the  cou- 
pon, compared  with  the  size  of  the  advertisement  of 
which  it  formed  a  part,  was  restricted  to  not  over 
one-fourth  of  the  total  area  of  the  advertisement. 
i  The  almost  automatic  response  to  the  coupon  set 
^  shrewd  and  progressive  advertisers  to  thinking.  They 
sought  to  discover  the  secret  of  its  power.  Why 
should  people  respond  to  the  stark  commands  of  the 
coupons  when  they  did  not  respond  to  illuminative  de- 
scriptive advertising  of  the  same  goods?  What  was 
there  in  the  circumstance  that  could  be  utilized  in 
other  phases  of  advertising  and  selling.?  It  was  at 
this  juncture  that  the  theories  of  some  of  the  more 
thorough  students  of  \advertising — that  it  is  closely 
related  to  psychology,   and  that  the  principles   of 

[38] 


Principles  and  Methods 


,  R«^.  &  Mchy.  Co^  Belleville,  IlL 


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Forms  of  Coupons  Used  in  Advertising 
[29] 


Advertising' 

psycKology  indicate  to  the  advertiser  the  way  Tie 
must  go  to  win  popular  favor — began  to  attract 
attention. 

^    Previous  to  this  timethere  had  been  a  few  men  who 
J)dimly  perceived  that  [in  psychology  there  is   to  be 

/  discovered  the  key  to  advertising.  These  were  adver- 
V^^ising  men,  not  professors  of  psychology.  The  pro- 
fessors were  slow  to  respond  to  what  was  manifestly 
a  great  call.  They  were  inclined  to  sniff  at  the  sug- 
gestion as  being  in  the  line  of  an  application  of 
science  to  business,  and  therefore,  if  not  positively 
unethical,  at  least  undignified.  Let  the  business  men 
discover  their  own  panaceas,  they  said,  in  effect.  The 
advertising  men  who  had  got  an  inkling  of  the  worth 
of  psychology  to  their  business  were  looked  upon  as 
cranks,  and  dreamers  of  crazy  dreams.  But  they  per- 
sisted, and  when  the  coupon  revealed  its  marvellous 
and  almost  uncanny  power,  they  saw  the  way  to  make 
their  theories  practical. 

Yet  it  was  some  years  before  the  professors  could 
be  interested,  and  some  years  before  many  of  the 
advertisers  who  were  coining  money  through  the  use 
of  the  coupon  would  admit  that  it  was  anything  other 
than  real  magic  that  brought  them  the  big  returns. 
The  men  who  taught  psychology  were  ridiculed,  and 
they  did  not  know  how  to  justify  their  faith.  Psy- 
chology was  yet  to  them  the  science  of  the  soul.  They 
had  not  perceived  that  it  is  really  the  science  of  the 
mind,  and  that  its  sphere  and  methods  are  as  definite 
and  easily  comprehended  as  the  sphere  and  methods 
of  physics  or  biology. 

[30] 


Principles  and  Methods 

In  examining  the  nature  of  psychology,  and  its 
impact  upon  business  problems  and  methods,  some 
inspired  grubber  hit  upon  the  hypothesis  that  psy- 
chology and  physiology  are  intimately  related,  and 
advanced  to  the  suggestion  that  the  physiological 
theory  of  the  motor  principle  of  the  mind,  the  office 
of  the  sensory  and  the  motor  nerves,  the  constitution 
and  functioning  of  the  brain,  might  be  made  to  ex- 
plain and  account  for  a  new  and  more  reasonable 
theory  of  the  effect  of  advertising  upon  people.  This 
led  to  a  recognition  of  a  fundamental  principle  of  the 
mind — its  structural  habit  of  assent. 

Here  was  a  reasonable  theory  to  explain,  not  only 
the  coupon  but  advertising  in  its  larger  application. 
It  had  escaped  the  notice  of  the  advertising  experts 
that  it  is  inherent  in  the  human  mind  to  consent ;  that 
it  is  not  natural  for  it  to  negative  any  proposition 
that  comes  to  it,  but  that  a  negative  impulse  must 
proceed  from  deliberation  and  argument,  and  be 
broifght  about  through  distinct  effort. 

Nine-tenths  of  life  is  assenting,  without  thought, 
reflection,  or  argument.  The  other  tenth  comes  after 
reflection,  and  after  argument  with  our  own  minds. 
When  we  feel  compelled  to  say  no  to  any  proposition, 
we  find  that  we  have  first  to  debate  the  matter  with 
ourselves,  and  bring  ourselves  to  the  point  of  saying 
no  to  our  minds.  It  is  not  so  with  the  larger  propor- 
tion of  our  thoughts  and  acts.  We  assent  to  the 
major  part  of  the  mental  activities  required  of  our 
minds  as  automatically  as  our  muscles  work  when  we 
are  walking.  We  are  not  conscious  of  any  resolve  to 

[31] 


Advertising 

set  the  left  foot  in  front  of  the  right  foot,  or  vice 
versa.  Neither  are  we  conscious  of  any  mental  effort 
of  decision  preceding  nearly  all  of  the  assenting 
processes  of  our  minds.  We  are,  however,  distinctly 
conscious  of  efforts  to  formulate  a  negative  decision. 

The  theory  of  the  motor  principle  of  the  mind  is 
not  only  the  most  interesting  psychological  fact  that 
advertisers  have  to  consider,  but  it  is  the  most  impor- 
tant. A  thorough  understanding  of  it  indicates  ex- 
actly the  nature  of  the  problem  the  advertiser  has  in 
mind,  and  shows  him  the  way  to  its  solution,  or  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  ought  not  to  waste  time  seeking  a 
solution. 

All  this  has  found  its  way  into  advertising  practice 
so  recently  that  it  is  not  yet  well  understood,  and 
enters  so  imperfectly  into  the  work  of  many  adver- 
tisers that  its  influence  upon  the  bulk  of  advertising 
is  not  evident  enough  to  satisfy  reasonable  demands 
for  proof  that  it  actually  is  the  fundamental  it  is 
assumed  to  be. 

There  are  many  advertisers  whose  comprehension 
of  the  principles  of  psychology  is  so  hazy  that  it  has 
little  effect  upon  their  work.  There  is  a  disposition  to 
adopt  the  principles  in  part  and  in  part  to  reject 
them.  Some  advertisers  strive  to  minister  to  the  sense 
of  beauty,  and  make  their  advertisements  good  to 
look  upon,  but  neglect  to  provide  the  convincing  copy 
to  follow  up  the  introducing  quality  of  beauty.  And 
tliere  are  those  who  rely  upon  good  copy  and  take 
little  pains  to  have  it  slip  into  pleased  consciousnesses 
over  the  oiled  way  of  physical  beauty. 

[3S] 


Principles  and  Methods 

The  circumstance  that  this  inclination  to  seek  a 
relation  between  advertising  and  this  subtle  science 
of  the  mind  has  but  just  begun  to  manifest  itself  in 
operative  advertising^lends  to  the  present  condition 
of  the  profession  much  of  its  interest,  and  suggests 
reasons  for  considering  it  as  something  in  addition 
to  one  of  the  more  important  factors  in  modern  busi- 
ness. In  that  relation  it  is  of  sufficient  importance  to 
attract  to  itself  much  attention.  With  the  passage  of 
each  year  it  is  more  and  more  evident  that  publicity 
is  the  foundation  of  selling.  In  contradistinction  to 
the  old  attitude  of  inquiry  on  the  part  of  the  buyer, 
the  present-day  purchaser  makes  of  himself  a  rela- 
tively inert  factor.  "Where  can  I  find  what  I  need?" 
was  the  anxious  inquiry  of  our  grandfathers  and 
grandmothers,  whereas  we  are  all  from  Missouri :  We 
require  to  be  shown,  and  we  are  not  willing  to  move 
out  of  our  tracks,  or  make  the  least  effort  to  open 
our  minds.  Salesmanship  must  force  our  attention, 
and  force  us  to  exercise  our  option  of  choice.  This  it 
does  through  advertising  in  the  modern  manner. 

It  is  this  modern  manner  of  advertising,  the  most 
recent  conception  of  advertising,  that  brings  it  into 
the  field  of  sociology  in  a  very  important  way.  Since 
it  has  been  demonstrated  that  advertising  derives  its 
force  and  influence  through  its  relation  to  psychol- 
ogy, and  is  able  to  induce  great  numbers  of  minds  to 
take  such  action  as  it  dictates,  it  is  manifest  that  in 
advertising  there  resides  power  that  iriay  be  as  suc- 
cessfully applied  to  other  activities  of  life  beside 
business ;  that,  in  fact,  we  soon  find  it  necessary  to 

[33] 


Advertising 

appeal  to  advertising — adopt  advertising  methods — 
for  the  promotion  of  every  progressive  and  purify- 
ing factor  in  life. 

The  significance  of  such  a  view  (and  it  is  imminent 
in  the  mind  of  about  every  progressive  person  who 
has  given  it  thought)  is  tremendous,  and  tremen- 
dously interesting.  It  foreshadows  a  revolution  in 
ethics  and  religion,  in  education  and  erudition,  in  art 
and  science — in  life — that  is  little  short  of  terrify- 
ing, so  radical  is  the  change  that  we  recognise  as 
inevitable.  If  this  extraordinary  conception  of  the 
force  and  capacity  of  advertising,  and  of  those  func- 
tions of  science  that  have  come  to  light  through 
advertising,  is  able  to  withstand  the  assaults  of  con- 
tinued application  in  business  it  is  inevitable  that  it 
will  be  applied  in  other  manifestations  of  life. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  the  beginnings  of  the  appli- 
cation of  advertising  principles  and  methods  to  re- 
ligion, for  example,  and  to  note  also  that  along  with 
the  application  of  advertising  methods  to  a  series  of 
revival  meetings — to  cite  something  specific — there 
goes  also  some  of  the  peculiar  moral  atmosphere  that 
has  always  enveloped  advertising  and  to  which  moral- 
ists have  strenuously  objected. 

In  a  certain  city  there  were  revival  meetings  going 
on.  The  attendance  was  limited.  The  audiences  were 
small.  There  was  not  much  public  interest.  People 
could  not  be  induced  to  attend.  Somebody  advised  the 
manager  to  make  use  of  an  advertising  device.  It  was 
announced  that  tickets  of  admission  would  be  issued, 
and  that  after  a  certain  hour  no  more  tickets  could 

[34] 


Principles  and  Methods 

be  had  and  the  doors  of  the  hall  would  be  closed.  The 
announcement  did  not  state  that  there  had  been  more 
people  wishing  to  enter  the  hall  than  it  would  hold, 
but  that  was  the  inference.  The  psychological  trick 
was  successful,  and  the  hall  of  the  meetings  was 
for  the  remainder  of  the  period  filled  without  further 
effort. 

Did  the  end  justify  the  means.?  Was  it  honest 
advertising?  Some  means  to  fill  the  hall  had  to  be 
adopted  or  the  meetings  must  have  been  abandoned; 
the  very  same  situation  as  confronts  a  great  many 
advertisers.  They  must  get  the  attention  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  must  arouse  in  them  the  buying  impulse, 
or  they  must  close  their  factories  and  abandon  their 
enterprise. 

Not  long  ago  a  certain  religious  society  needed  a 
certain  sum  of  money.  It  tried  all  of  the  usual  meth- 
ods, but  failed  to  get  the  money.  A  publisher  of  a 
paper  offered  to  guarantee  the  amount  if  he  were 
given  money  enough  to  do  a  certain  amount  of  ad- 
vertising in  his  paper.  A  man  drew  his  check  for  the 
cash,  and  the  publisher  turned  in  the  whole  amount 
needed,  after  having  expended  for  the  advertising 
only  three-fifths  of  the  sum  of  his  guarantee. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  claim  that  a  majority  of  suc- 
cessful movements  involving  the  cooperation  of  peo- 
ple, undertaken  for  religion,  ethics,  or  sociology,  are 
promoted  to  successful  consummation  through  the 
methods  of  advertising,  applied  consciously  or  un- 
consciously. But,  as  in  the  case  of  advertising  itself, 
most  of  these  applications  are  half-hearted  compro- 

[35] 


Advertising 

mises.  They  are  tentative  and  timid,  where  they 
should  be  comprehensive  and  courageous. 

It  is  fair  to  assume  that  it  is  advertising  that  has 
led  the  way  into  this  new  application  of  science  to  the 
influencing  of  people  to  follow  a  leader  or  adopt  an 
idea  or  act  in  prescribed  ways.  It  is  fair  to  credit  the 
selling  spirit  with  having  blazed  the  way  tov/ard  the 
adoption  of  a  policy  of  promotion  for  all  good 
objects  that  is  bound  to  work  a  great  and  significant 
revolution. 

While  we  see  clearly  that  all  lines  of  social,  relig- 
ious, and  ethical  endeavor  are  benefiting  by  the  adop- 
tion of  the  newer  ideas  of  promotion,  the  fact  that  we 
do  not  so  clearly  see  is  that  in  consequence  of  this 
brotherhood  in  promotion  there  is  coming  into  being 
a  brotherhood  relation  between  business  and  ethics, 
or  religion,  which  is  to  signify  much  more  to  the 
world. 

Much  to  the  surprise  of  both,  business  and  religion 
find  themselves  about  to  work  hand  in  hand.  From 
discovering  that  the  material  progress  of  business 
and  religion  may  be  equally  promoted  through  the 
use  of  the  same  methods  and  by  the  application  of  the 
same  principles,  we  have  come  to  suspect  that  these 
deeper  manifestations  of  life  have  an  affinity  that 
brings  them  into  similar  relations  in  our  lives,  if  they 
are  not  indeed  fundamentally  the  same. 

It  seems  probable  that  we  shall  soon  come  to  re- 
gard these  two  major  manifestations  of  our  lives — 
business,  and  the  group  of  emotional  elements  we  sub- 
divide as  religion,  ethics,  and  morals — as  having  such 

[36] 


Principles  and  Methods 

intimate  relations  that  we  will  ultimately  cease  to 
consider  them  as  different  elements  and  to  apply  to 
them  different  standards.  And,  again,  it  is  necessary 
to  credit  advertising  with  having  led  us  to  this  con- 
clusion —  that  business  is  religion  and  religion  is 
business. 

In  the  course  of  their  investigations  and  experi- 
ments the  advertising  men  who  have  seen  visions  have 
discovered  that  one  of  the  surest  roads  into  the  minds 
of  the  people  to  whom  they  wish  to  sell  goods  is  along 
the  lines  of  exact  and  uncompromising  good  faith. 
The  discovery  has  been  made  that  truth  is  a  great 
business  asset.  It  is  not  known  how  this  came  about, 
but  since  some  three  or  four  years  ago  there  has  been 
a  great  gathering  of  the  clans  of  advertising  around 
the  standard  of  truth,  and  the  clamor  in  advocacy  of 
it  leads  to  the  suspicion  that  the  advertising  men  had 
not  previously  been  aware  of  the  fact  that  truth  has 
the  power  to  make  men  free. 

While  the  naive  welcome  accorded  to  truth  by  the 
advertising  men  may  provoke  the  cynic's  smile,  the 
fact  is  sufficiently  indicative  to  cause  us  to  look  about 
for  reasons  and  to  prognosticate  results. 

What  is  to  happen  when  business  finally  accepts 
the  proposition  that  it  is  more  profitable  to  tell  the 
exact  truth  than  it  has  ever  been  to  throw  a  false 
halo  about  the  goods  offered.''  When  the  Golden  Rule 
becomes  a  maxim  of  business  as  well  as  the  shibboleth 
of  the  Sunday  school,  where  jv^ill  we  be/at£yrhe  com- 
Torting  reflection  is  that  this  consummatfonSis  at 
hand.  While  we  may  acknowledge  that  there  is  (a  vast 

[37]  J  J 


Advertising 

amount  of  fustian  in  the  assumption  of  sanctity  on 
the  part  of  the  advertisers,  it  is  true  that  there  is 
already  a  separation  of  those  who  really  mean  to  live 
by  the  protestations  of  the  newer  morality  and  those 
who  seem  to  use  it  as  a  cloak  for  their  old  habits  of 
deception.  The  business  itself  is  dividing  the  sheep 
from  the  goats,  and,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  is 
branding  the  goats  so  that  they  may  not  find  it 
possible  to  pass  as  sheep. 

/f'  Advertising  has  led  the  way  into  a  new  life  for  all 
business,  and  a  new  alHance  between  business  and  the 
gentler  and  more  consequential  phases  of  life.  It  is, 
of  course,  to  be  acknowledged  that  advertising  has 
not  created  these  conditions,  and  also  that  the  enact- 
ment of  this  role  has  not  been  a  matter  of  prevision 
on  its  part. 

The  most  that  can  be  claimed  for  advertising  is 
that  it  was  chosen  as  the  medium  for  the  introduction 
of  this  new  era.  It  was  fitted  for  the  work,  because 
it  was  compelled  to  seek  for  a  way  into  the  nJnds  of 
the  people,  and  when  it  found  that  way — when  it  was 
seen  that  people  could  be  swayed  and  influenced 
through  appeal  to  their  automatic  minds — the  road 
to  the  utilization  of  this  knowledge  for  higher  pur- 
poses than  the  sale  of  merchandise  was  obviously 
open ;  and  the  lifting  of  the  motives  and  processes  of 
advertising  was  as  inevitably  obvious. 

Advertising  has  promoted  this  new  power  over 
people  to  the  full  extent  of  its  promised  benefit  to 
business,  and  no  further.  Advertising  has  advanced 
toward  a  brotherhood  with  religion  and  morals  just 

^ p^iS 


Principles  and  Methods 

so  far  as  it  seems  profitable  for  it  to  go,  having 
alwa3^s  in  view  the  ultimate  and  permanent  benefit  to 
business  conditions  and  methods. 

Every  business  exists  for  its  own  promotion.  It  is 
not  open  to  anyone  to  criticise  advertising  because  it 
is  not  more  interested  in  the  promotion  of  churches 
than  dry-goods  stores.  It  is  for  the  church  people  to 
sit  at  the  feet  of  the  advertisers  and  learn  how  to 
make  the  churches  bloom  and  fruit,  even  as  the  auto- 
mobile factories  at  Detroit.  And  the  churches  are 
beginning  to  do  it.  They  are  emerging  from  the  halo 
of  their  great  purpose  and  taking  thought  of  their 
usefulness  in  terms  of  promotion.  They  are  learning 
of  advertising  how  to  get  into  the  minds  of  the  people 
they  wish  to  move,  and  how  to  apply  their  principles 
so  that  they  will  take  root  and  bear  fruit. 

But  the  significance  of  the  new  appreciation  of 
promotion  principles  by  business,  and  by  those  activi- 
ties that  have  not  the  business  motive,  is  not  so  much 
that  there  is  here  and  there  concrete  evidence  of  the 
drawing  together  upon  the  same  platform,  as  that 
there  is  such  satisfying  evidence  that  the  two  parts 
of  a  man  are  being  understood  to  be  in  reality  one. 

That  the  churclies  have  begun  to  think  about  their 
usefulness  in  terms  of  business,  and  that  business  has 
begun  to  think  about  itself  in  terms  of  ethical  justice, 
is  what  gives  warrant  for  anticipating  a  regenera- 
tion in  social  life  the  consequences  of  which  we  are 
able  only  to  imagine.  That  a  man  who  wishes  to  be  as 
good  as  he  should  be,  and  do  as  much  good  as  he 
may,  can  indulge  a  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  dis- 

[39] 


Advertising 

tant  when  he  can  be  the  same  man  in  his  church  and 
in  his  counting  room,  is  a  consummation  of  the  new 
spirit  and  the  new  knowledge  in  advertising  that 
entitles  every  advertising  man  who  has  seen  the  light 
to  consider  that  he  is  of  a  company  of  the  elect. 

How  much  less  important  it  is  that  large  sales  of 
merchandise  are  made  than  that  people  begin  to  see 
life  sanely !  If  the  merchant  can  see  that  full  weight, 
100  per  cent  quality,  fair  prices,  good  service,  and 
brotherhood,  are  the  practices  that  are  likely  to 
bring  him  more  and  better  business,  it  surely  is  well. 
If  the  churches  can  be  made  to  realize  that  they  can 
make  life  better  for  more  people  if  they  adopt  the 
methods  the  advertisers  have  discovered  and  formu- 
lated for  them,  that  is  something  to  rejoice  about. 

Advertising,  we  see,  if  this  view  of  its  activities  and 
genesis  is  correct,  is  something  in  the  nature  of  a 
medium  in  which  the  varied  elements  that  are  at  work 
to  pull  the  world  up  to  a  higher  plane  are  brought 
to  a  union,  like  a  chemical  union,  producing  the  amal- 
gam of  that  civilization  we  dream  about  and  hope 
for.  It  neutralizes  the  natural  acidity  of  man  in  busi- 
ness, and  it  stimulates  the  man  in  religion.  It  is  a 
glass  through  which  all  men  see  things  alike.  It  is  a 
melting  pot  of  present-day  motives  which  will  blend 
those  motives — similar,  though  conflicting — into  a 
composition  that  shall  ring  out  a  new  note  in  the 
progress  of  mankind. 

In  fairness  it  must  be  said  that  advertising  men 
are  not  conscious  of  the  ultimate  goal  of  their  work. 
They  see  that  it  pays  them  better  to  accept  the  new 

[40] 


Principles  and  Methods 

estimation  of  their  business,  and  to  point  their  efforts 
toward  the  moral  qualities  that  are  becoming  so  at- 
tractive to  them.  They  are  quite  wilHng  to  believe 
that  they  are  highly  ethical,  and  to  regard  their  busi- 
ness as  founded  upon  the  naked  truth,  so  long  as  that 
policy  makes  their  advertising  more  effective;  or  so 
long  as  the  advocacy  of  such  a  policy  contributes  to 
their  bank  accounts  as  well  as  to  their  reputation 
among  men. 

-  Your  real  advertising  man  is  an  opportunist  of 
very  high  potency.  He  is  early  divested  of  his  ideals 
and  enthusiasms,  and  fixes  his  eyes  firmly  upon  the 
penny  that  owes  no  allegiance  and  that  may  be  lured. 
He  is  learning  the  lesson  that  it  pays  to  be  truthful 
and  honest,  and  truth  and  honesty  are  his  catch- 
words. He  loves  them,  and  he  loves  to  see  them  blaz- 
oned upon  the  sky,  at  so  much  per  electric  bulb.  Here 
and  there  we  find  an  advertising  man  who  is  really 
devoted  to  his  shibboleths ;  and  we  usually  find  him 
poor,  and  struggling  for  a  foothold.  Now  and  again 
we  meet  one  who  is  both  able  and  wholly  honest,  as 
well  as  firmly  adhering  to  the  new  doctrine.  If  he  is 
able  enough  he  has  business,  and  is  in  the  way  of 
becoming  noted  and  notable.  There  are  a  few  opera- 
tive advertising  men  who  have  given  themselves  to  the 
new  doctrines  with  whole-hearted  zeal,  and  have  be- 
come the  apostles  and  prophets  of  the  new  regime. 

The  new  advertising  is  passing  through  that 
crucial  period  during  which  any  propaganda  is  in 
danger  of  being  ruined  by  its  professional  advocates. 
Nothing  is  so  popular  as  moral  shibboleths.  The  big 

[41] 


Advertising 


i' 


r 


word  "Truth"  is  bandied  about  as  though  all  men 
had  been  its  advocates  from  the  beginning  of  time, 
and  as  though  it  means  a  succulent  mental  morsel 
that  has  only  to  be  swallowed  to  insure  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  whole  being. 

The  principles  of  advertising  have  become  expo- 
nents of  something  that  is  to  work  a  revolution  in 
business  and  morals,  and  be  the  means  of  building  up 
religion  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  practice  of  adver- 
tising is  as  sorely  in  need  of  these  new  principles  as 
is  any  department  of  business  or  any  attitude  of  life. 
It  is  permeated  with  a  subtle  dishonesty  that  is  diffi- 
cult to  characterize  and  more  difficult  to  eradicate. 
There  is  in  too  large  a  proportion  of  current  ad- 
vertising a  percentage  of  untruth  that  does  not 
harmonize  with  the  exalted  office  the  profession  is 
performing  for  the  benefit  of  the  best  ends  of  civili- 
zation— untruths  of  reservation  as  well  as  of  state- 
ment ;  all  contributing  to  the  building  in  the  minds  of 
the  readers  of  impressions  that  are  not  in  accord  with 
the  facts. 

But  the  newer  views  will  sometime  eradicate  even 
this  subtle  quality  of  deception,  because  it  is  as  dan- 
gerous to  the  real  welfare  of  the  advertiser  as  is  more 
flagrant  falsehood.  The  new  lesson  demands  that  the 
advertisement  shall  create  in  the  mind  a  true  picture 
of  the  thing  offered,  and  of  the  conditions  of  the 
offer,  not  that  there  shall  be  in  the  advertisement  no 
flagrant  falsehood  or  misleading  assertion.  The  ad- 
vertisement, to  be  effective  as  well  as  moral,  must  put 
a  perfectly  accurate  and  true  idea  of  the  thing  ad- 

[42] 


Principles  and  Methods 

vertised  into  the  mind  of  the  reader.  Nothing  less  will 
square  with  the  pretensions  of  the  advertising  profes- 
sion, or  with  the  new  conception  of  the  possibilities 
and  responsibilities  of  advertising.  Nothing  less  will, 
in  the  long  run,  be  effective  and  bring  the  maximum 
of  definite  and  continued  results. 


[431 


Ill 

Science  and  Art  in 
Advertising 

Is  advertising  a  science,  an  art,  or  merely  a  branch 
/of  business? 

This  question  has  agitated  some  of  the  advertising 
men,  and  has  been  discussed  in  the  advertising  peri- 
odicals. Though  interesting,  it  cannot  yet  be  an- 
swered with  authority. 

It  is  easy  to  deny  that  advertising  is  either  an  art 
or  a  science,  as  it  is  easy  to  assert  that  drawings  or 
paintings  of  certain  "artists"  are  not  art.  There  are 
many  advertising  campaigns  that  show  such  skilful 
application  of  several  of  the  sciences,  particularly  of 
psychology,  as  to  cause  the  fair-minded  critic  to 
hesitate  before  he  declares  that  they  are  not  as  fairly 
entitled  to  be  called  scientific  as  is  the  work  of  the 
chemist,  the  astronomer,  the  physicist,  the  surgeon, 
the  biologist,  or  the  physiologist.  And  the  physical 
features  of  many  advertising  campaigns  are  so  hap- 
pily and  artistically  worked  out  as  to  create  doubt 
whether  any  other  practitioner  of  graphic  art  should 
be  more  rightfully  entitled  to  the  term  artist  than  is 
the  man  who  creates  the  finest  of  the  advertisements. 
Both  work  from  the  same  fundamental  point  of  view, 
even  considering  the  commercial  motive.  The  painter 
hopes  to  sell  his  work,  and  the  maker  of  the  ad- 
vertisement expects  to  be  paid.  The  painter  works 
according  to  certain  canons,  principles,  and  rules, 

[44] 


Science  and  Art 

established  as  fundamentals.  The  maker  of  the  good 
advertisement  adheres  to  the  same  fundamentals,  and 
works  out  his  conception  in  the  same  hope — that  it 
will  appeal  to  the  sense  of  beauty  that  resides  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  person  who  sees  and  examines 
his  product. 

Like  all  manifestations  of  science,  advertising 
makes  use  of  those  principles  and  rules  that  are  com- 
mon to  all  sciences.  It  recognizes  them,  studies  them, 
and  applies  them  in  its  products.  It  is  the  same  with 
chemistry,  with  medicine,  with  biology. 

The  mere  fact  that  advertising  has  a  motive  which 
directly  demands  money,  in  the  form  of  business, 
instead  of  money  in  the  form  of  fees,  salaries,  and 
less  direct  business  influences,  is  a  distinction  that  has 
led  many  to  classify  it  as  merely  a  branch  of  busi- 
ness. But  would  these  same  critics  so  classify  the 
work  of  Edison,  for  example.?  That  great  inventor 
is  without  question  a  scientist — one  of  the  greatest 
in  the  world.  Yet  he  works  for  a  direct  business  re- 
sult ;  always  for  the  purpose  of  making  money  from 
the  specific  thing  he  has  in  hand.  The  writer  who 
would  deny  that  Edison  is  a  great  scientist  would 
discredit  his  authority  and  veracity. 

The  first  definition  of  the  word  "science"  in  the 
Century  Dictionary  is :  "Knowledge ;  comprehension 
or  understanding  of  facts  or  principles."  The  sec- 
ond definition  is:  "Knowledge  gained  by  systematic 
observation,  experiment  and  reasoning;  knowledge 
coordinated,  arranged,  and  systematized;  also  the 
prosecution  of  truth  as  thus  shown,  both  in  the  ab- 

[45] 


Advertising 

stract  and  as  a  historical  development."  The  third 
definition  is:  "Knowledge  regarding  any  special 
group  of  objects,  coordinated,  arranged,  and  sys- 
tematized; what  is  known  concerning  a  subject,  sys- 
tematically arranged ;  a  branch  of  knowledge :  as  the 
science  of  botany,  of  astronomy,  of  etymology,  of 
metaphysics ;  mental  science ;  physical  science ;  in  a 
narrow  sense,  one  of  the  physical  sciences,  as  distin- 
guished from  mathematics,  metaphysics,  etc."  The 
fourth  definition  is:  "Art  derived  from  precepts  or 
based  on  principles;  skill  resulting  from  training; 
special,  exceptional,  or  preeminent  skill."  The  fifth 
definition  is:  "Trade;  occupation." 

These  are  all  of  the  definitions  given  to  the  word 
"science"  by  the  Century  Dictionary.  The  Standard 
Dictionary  and  Webster's  International  both  give 
substantially  the  same  definitions,  though  both  in 
their  analyses  of  the  word  give  some  definitions  more 
favorable  to  the  advertisers.  Richardson,  an  old  Eng- 
lish lexicographer,  who  published  his  dictionary  in 
1858,  and  whose  aim  was  to  trace  the  origin  of 
words,  says  that  science  is,  in  its  origin,  similar  to 
skill,  and  goes  on  to  say  that  "science  is  knowledge; 
art,  power  or  skill  in  the  use  of  it." 

I  While  it  may  be  a  fact  that  but  little  of  the  adver- 
tising that  appears  in  the  public  prints  ought  to  be 
classed  as  scientific,  it  may  also  be  claimed  that  much 

\  of  the  writing  about  other  sciences  is  open  to  serious 
doubt  as  to  its  authority  and  truthfulness.  No  adver- 
tising man  who  cares  for  his  profession  enough  to 
assume  that  it  is  a  science  will  claim  that  there  is 

[46] 


Science  and  Art 

more  than  a  small  proportion  of  its  manifestations 
that  are  worthy  of  consideration  as  being  scientific. 
Yet  he  will  not  admit  that  this  fact  disqualifies  him 
from  claiming  that  his  product  is  scientific. 

That  in  the  best  advertising  which  brings  it  within 
the  purview  of  science  is  its  very  clever  and  original 
application  of  some  of  the  principles  of  psychology, 
and  its  careful  regard  for  the  optical  teachings  of 
physiology  and  psychology.  Not  many  of  those  ad- 
vertisers who  make  the  most  skilful  use  of  the  teach- 
ings of  psychology  in  their  work  are  willing  to 
acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to  the  science  that  has 
had  to  endure  the  scoffs  and  jeers  of  unthinking 
people. 

Ten  years  ago  nothing  would  arouse  more  hilarity 
among  any  group  of  advertisers  than  to  suggest  that 
either  of  them  was  thinking  about  applying  the  prin- 
ciples of  psychology  in  his  practice.  The  unlucky 
wight  who  had  been  delving  among  the  vague  and 
abstruse  books  upon  that  science  then  extant  became 
the  butt  of  the  crowd,  and  whatever  sound  argument 
he  might  be  able  to  offer  was  laughed  at.  Then  men 
did  not  know  why  they  laughed,  and  the  embryonic 
psychologist  did  not  know  why  they  should  not  laugh. 

As  in  other  lines  of  industry,  the  scientific  elements 
in  advertising  have  been  translated  into  the  vernacu- 
lar, we  may  say,  for  the  benefit  of  the  workers  in  the 
business,  and  to  relieve  them  of  the  peculiar  distaste 
all  workers  have  for  naked  science.  The  president  of 
an  art  school,  for  example,  delivers  a  series  of  lec-r 
tures    upon    "Principles    of    Advertising    Arrange-' 

[*7] 


Advertising 

ment,"  instead  of  upon  "Art  and  Psychology  in 
Advertising."  This  latter  title  would  have  correctly 
described  his  lectures,  while  the  one  he  used  was  not 
quite  germane  to  his  real  purpose.  It  was  justified  by 
this  feeling  of  aversion  to  frankly  accepting  science 
and  art  as  possible  concomitants  of  modern  business 
and  occupations.  Another  course  of  lectures  by  an- 
other college  professor  was  called  "The  Principles  of 
Appeal  and  Response,"  a  not  very  accurate  synonym 
for  "Psychology,"  since  the  lectures  dealt  with  psy- 
chology as  applied  to  the  arrangement  of  the  physi- 
cal elements  of  advertising.  These  elements  of  the 
psychology  of  the  advertisement  are  among  the  prin- 
ciples of  that  science  themselves  subordinate  in  nature 
and  application.  They  are  not  fundamental  as  origi- 
nal elements,  but  are  sub-elements  of  the  chief  initial 
element  of  psychology. 

Nevertheless,  there  has  recently  grown  up  in  the 
practice  of  the  better  advertising  men,  especially  with 
those  who  deal  with  the  problems  of  large  advertisers, 
and  the  better  agents,  a  mass  of  expert  knowledge 
about  the  effect  of  advertising  upon  people,  under 
differing  circumstances  of  salesmanship  and  differing 
degrees  of  necessity  among  people  who  are  advertised 
to,  which  has  become  very  valuable  as  a  guide.  Much 
of  this  information  is  undigested.  It  rests  in  the 
minds  of  the  men  who  have  worked  it  out  from  their 
practice,  and  is,  so  far  as  the  general  business  of 
advertising  is  concerned,  dumb  and  inexistent.  It  has 
been  harbored  as  a  personal,  or  corporate,  asset,  and 
jealously  guarded  from  the  knowledge  of  others  in 

[48] 


Science  and  Art 

the  business.  Some  of  the  men  who  have  been  re- 
garded as  geniuses  in  the  way  of  copy-writing,  for 
example,  could  easily  reveal  their  secrets  to  other 
bright  men,  if  they  chose  to  do  so.  Their  facility, 
which  may  rest  upon  the  purely  mechanical  working 
out  of  the  principles  of  psychology,  is  assumed  to  be 
individual,  the  expression  of  a  taleht  comparable  to 
the  ability  to  write  verse  or  construct  jokes.  With  the 
great  growth  of  the  associational  idea,  within  the  past 
five  years  or  so,  some  of  this  guarded  talent  is  being 
opened  to  general  participation,  and  the  consequent 
added  respect  for  psychology  as  an  advertising  asset. 

Art,  as  a  controlling  element  in  advertising,  is  also 
coming  into  its  own.  It  has  had  a  like  experience  with 
psychology.  It  is  not  now  accepted  in  its  naked 
power.  It  is  obliquely  acknowledged.  Yet  its  power  is 
so  obvious  that  it  is  coming  to  be  taken  at  its  own 
valuation. 

Is  advertising  an  art.'*  It  is,  and  it  is  not.  It  is  an 
art  so  far  as  the  preparation  of  the  advertisements 
is  concerned.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  an  advertise- 
ment worthy  of  being  printed  that  shall  not  conform 
to  such  canons  of  art  as  satisfy  the  discriminating 
demands  of  the  eye.  It  is  here  that  the  real  efficiency 
of  the  advertisement  begins.  If  it  has  not  the  quality 
of  attractiveness  it  will  be  passed  over  by  the  eye, 
and  will  therefore  be  of  small  account.  The  primary 
fact  about  the  advertisement  is  that  it  must  attract 
attention.  In  an  ordinary  Sunday  newspaper  there 
are  some  2,500  separate  advertisements.  Most  of 
them  are  not  interesting  enough  to  induce  the  ordi- 

[49] 


Advertising 

nary  man  to  look  at  them.  And  he  must  look  at  an 
advertisement  if  it  is  to  be  productive. 

The  application  of  the  principles  of  art  to  adver- 
tising is  nothing  more  than  common  sense.  There  is 
nothing  of  the  mere  love  for  art  in  it.  It  is  simply 
that  the  advertisement  may  be  noted,  by  the  people 
who  are  idly  turning  the  sheets  of  the  newspaper  or 
I  the  pages  of  the  magazine.  The  wise  advertiser  never 
I  considers  art  except  in  this  way.  Therefore  the  wise 
advertiser  is  anxious  to  know  what  elements  of  art 
will  aid  him  in  his  desire  to  attract  attention.  He 
knows  that  his  advertisement  must  have  the  qualities 
of  a  picture,  and  of  a  picture  that  is  at  once  attrac- 
tive to  the  eye.  How  is  he  to  construct  this  picture, 
within  which  there  is  his  message  to  the  reader.? 

Clearly,  he  must  construct  his  advertisement  in 
much  the  same  manner,  and  according  to  much  the 
same  canons  and  rules,  as  the  artist  uses  in  the  early 
stages  of  his  work,  in  painting,  etching,  water-color, 
pen-  or  wash-drawing.  There  is  nothing  simpler,  or 
more  obvious ;  yet  there  are  many  astute  advertisers 
who  still  make  merry  over  "art  in  advertising." 
When  pressed,  these  Doubting  Thomases  are  fain  to 
confess  that  they  believe  the  writing  and  display  of 
advertising  is  just  a  matter  of  knowing  people — just 
a  matter  of  human  nature,  you  know.  Precisely,  it  is 
just  a  matter  of  knowing  people,  replies  the  advertis- 
ing student.  That  and  nothing  else.  Then  he  adds 
that  all  the  rules  and  principles  of  art  are  nothing 
more  than  the  formulation  of  accumulated  knowledge 
of  human  nature — attempts  to  formulate  that  which 

[50] 


Science  and  Art 


Proportion,  Balance,  Symmetry,  Tone 
[61] 


Advertising 

is  necessary  in  any  kind  of  composition  intended  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  people,  and  please  them. 

When  therefore  the  accomplished  advertising  man 
talks  about  form,  proportion,  balance,  harmony, 
symmetry,  tone,  color,  etc.,  as  elements  of  the  good 
advertisement,  we  are  to  assume  that  he  has  in  mind 
the  construction  of  an  advertisement  that  will  attract 
attention,  and  that  may  avoid  the  fate  of  that  for- 
lorn 75  per  cent  of  advertising  which  the  statisticians 
tell  us  is  abortive.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  read- 
ing public,  all  of  the  advertising  printed  in  news- 
papers and  other  periodicals  should  be  made  to 
conform  to  such  primary  rules  of  art  as  will  make  it 
endurable  to  the  eyes.  Since  practically  all  of  our 
periodical  literature  owes  its  existence  to  advertising, 
and  relies  upon  it  for  its  profits,  it  is  surely  incum- 
bent upon  the  publishers  to  make  the  advertising  at 
least  tolerable  to  the  sight. 

There  is  here  a  suggestion  of  one  of  the  peculiar 
embarrassments  in  advertising.  It  is  not  possible  for 
the  advertisers  to  get  the  attention  of  the  people  they 
wish  to  address  except  through  the  operation  of 
a  selling  element  which  predisposes  many  people 
against  the  advertisements,  per  se.  The  publishers  of 
periodicals  sell  their  subscribers  a  certain  amount  of 
literature,  of  some  kind.  They  do  not  sell  them  adver- 
tising. They  do  not  acquire  from  their  subscribers 
any  right  to  ask  them  to  consider  the  advertising. 
They  sell  so  many  pages  of  reading  matter,  and  they 
wrap  in  the  package  certain  other  pages  of  advertis- 
ing that  the  readers  do  not  contract  for,  and  in  many 

[52] 


Science  and  Art 

cases  do  not  want.  Yet  the  readers  must  receive  the 
advertisements. 

The  advertiser  is  put  in  the  position  of  the  sewing- 
machine  agents  who  have  learned  to  coerce  the  house- 
wives to  listen  to  them  by  means  of  putting  their  feet 
inside  the  doors  and  preventing  the  annoyed  women 
from  closing  them  until  they  have  heard  the  selling 
story.  The  advertisements  come  into  houses  without 
the  permission  of  the  householders,  and  with  no  war- 
rant other  than  the  consent  of  the  publishers. 

This  is  an  academic  view,  but  there  is  in  many 
homes  a  sentiment  something  like  this  unwelcome  for 
the  advertisements  that  are  thrust  upon  them.  It  is 
seconded  by  the  irritating  sense  that  they  are  actu- 
ally paying  the  publisher  for  his  privilege  of  entering 
their  homes  to  justify  the  sale  of  the  wares  of  his 
advertisers,  whereas  he  should  be  paying  them. 

The  plea  of  the  publisher  that  he  could  not  afford 
to  print  and  circulate  his  publication  if  he  were 
forced  to  depend  upon  the  money  received  from  sub- 
scribers does  httle  to  mitigate  his  offense.  He,  not  the 
readers,  fixes  the  price  of  his  publication.  If  he  sees 
fit  to  offer  it  at  less  than  cost,  it  is  his  privilege.  It  is 
his  privilege  to  ask  a  price  thstt  will  pay  for  the  lit- 
erary section  of  the  periodical,  and  a  sufficient  profit ; 
and  then  it  may  be  his  duty  to  strictly  limit  the  ad- 
vertisements he  accepts  to  such  as  may  reasonably  be 
expected  to  benefit  his  readers. 

It  is  one  of  the  fictions  of  publishing  that  people 
will  not  pay  a  fair  price  for  periodicals.  They  do  pay 
for  certain  ones  a  price  sufficient  to  cover  the  cost 

[53] 


Advertising 

and  provide  a  profit.  There  are  a  few  publishers  now 
trying  the  experiment,  with  newspapers  and  other 
periodicals,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  in  the  not  dis- 
tant future  it  will  be  possible  to  read  the  news  of  the 
day,  and  purchase  an  adequate  supply  of  periodical 
literature,  quite  free  from  advertising.  Why  should 
all  advertising  be  located  upon  the  public  domain; 
along  the  highways,  in  the  street-cars,  in  papers  and 
periodicals  bought  for  another  and  very  different 
purpose  than  to  read  the  advertisements?  'Tis  a 
Utopian  idea,  and  far  from  probable  realization, 
though  there  are  some  indications  that  it  may  seri- 
ously be  accepted.  But  if  the  advertisers  and  pub- 
lishers wish  to  continue  to  enjoy  the  free  usufruct  of 
the  highways,  the  street-cars  and  other  travel  oppor- 
tunities, and  the  pages  of  the  public  prints,  it  is  clear 
that  they  must  study  the  public  limit  of  tolerance,  the 
tastes  of  the  readers,  and  force  advertising  practice 
into  methods  that  are  not  obviously  distasteful  to 
them — make  the  advertising  more  artistic ;  more  tol- 
erable, in  its  function  of  the  unbidden  guest. 

There  are  many  advertisements  that  are  artistic  in 
their  make-up.  There  are  many  that  are  designed  to 
attract  as  though  they  were  artistic.  It  is  one  of  the 
misfortunes  of  America,  where  the  advertisement  is 
so  profusely  universal,  that  artists  have  given  little 
attention  to  it.  In  Germany  the  best  artists  take  a 
hand  in  designing  advertisements.  In  England  men 
with  good  reputations  as  artists  do  not  scruple  to 
design  advertisements.  In  America  a  few  artists  con- 
descend to  draw  figures  for  advertisements,  and  a  few 

[54] 


Science  and  Art 

good  designers  can  be  prevailed  upon  to  make  let- 
tered pieces  for  advertising  purposes.  But  the  figures 
that  the  good  artists  draw,  and  get  big  prices  for, 
and  the  fine  pieces  of  lettering  made  by  good  design- 
ers, are  at  the  mercy  of  advertisement  constructors, 
many  of  whom  do  not  know  how  to  relate  the  artistic 
units  with  the  other  elements  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
produce  artistic  objects. 

There  is  hope  in  the  situation.  Progress  has  been 
marked  during  the  past  few  years,  and  there  is  some 
movement  toward  a  real  understanding  of  what  art 
and  science  can  do  for  the  advertisement,  even  if  the 
ultimate  verdict  is  against  the  dictionaries  that  ad- 
vertising is  not  a  science  and  not  an  art.  It  is  not 
possible  to  deny  that  it  is  a  trade,  or  a  calling;  nor 
is  it  possible  to  deny  that  it  is  one  of  the  more  inter- 
esting of  calhngs,  dealing  as  it  does  with  the  delicate 
and  responsive  attributes  of  human  nature,  and  de- 
pending upon  the  response  that  can  be  wheedled  from 
people  by  playing  upon  their  innate  love  of  form  and 
color  and  eloquence,  and  their  instinctive  faith  in 
whatever  their  fellows  may  tell  them  as  truth. 

It  is  possible  that  this  need  of  knowledge  about 
advertising,  which  is  of  late  so  insistent,  may  even- 
tually lead  advertising  interests  to  attack  this  prob- 
lem of  classification  in  a  constructive  manner.  Events 
are  leading  toward  some  organized  attempt  at  re- 
search and  organization.  Nothing  is  more  necessary 
than  some  orderly  attempt  to  place  advertising 
among  the  professions.  Enthusiasts  have  been  urging 
systematic  research  and  assimilation  for  the  purpose 

[55] 


Advertising 

of  ascertaining  to  what  extent  advertising  may  draw 
from  the  stores  of  the  other  sciences  and  arts.  Until 
something  of  the  sort  is  done,  and  the  results  made 
known,  there  will  be  none  so  rash  as  to  claim  that  in 
its  practices  advertising  is  an  art  or  a  science. 

There  is  little  agreement  in  method  and  practice. 
There  may  be  an  advertiser  in  Philadelphia  who 
makes  a  very  careful  study  of  psychology,  tries  to 
ascertain  the  facts  about  the  people  he  wishes  to 
reach,  and  endeavors  to  apply  the  principles  of  art 
to  his  advertisements.  He  gets  good  results.  There 
may  be  another  advertiser  in  Boston  who  employs 
nothing  in  the  way  of  art  principles  or  psychological 
findings,  but  just  the  "rule  of  thumb,"  and  he  also 
gets  good  results. 

One  man  in  Detroit  who  alleges  that  he  has  made  a 
study  of  the  whole  matter,  and  who  reinforces  his 
statements  with  many  tabulated  results,  lays  down 
some  rules  that  are  radically  at  variance  with  the 
findings  of  the  professors  of  psychology  in  the  uni- 
I   versities.  One  advertiser  asserts  that  there  must  be 
I    expended  for  advertising  not  less  than  two  per  cent 
of  the  total  receipts,  and  another  shows  that  he  has 
built  a  big  and  profitable  business,  entirely  by  adver- 
tising, with  an  expenditure  of  less  than  one  per  cent 
\  of  his  gross  income.  Yet  another  alleges,  with  perfect 
■  truth,  that  he  has  expended  a  fortune  for  advertising 
and  is  a  bankrupt  in  consequence. 

Such  varying  results  would  not  be  possible  if  scien- 
tific principles  prevailed  in  advertising  practice. 
There  is  nothing  approaching  science  or  art  in  much 

[56] 


Science  and  Art 

of  the  current  advertising,  and  there  is  in  the  con-\ 
sciousnesses  of  most  of  the  advertisers  no  sense  of 
their  need  of  art  or  science.  There  is,  in  other  words, 
little  attempt  to  know  the  people  the  advertisement 
must  appeal  to,  and  little  attempt  to  make  the  adver- 
tisement appeal  to  anybody  beyond  the  man  who  pays 
for  its  insertion. 

Science  and  art  in  advertising  show  how  a  particu-        v 
lar  people  may  be  interested,  and  how  to  so  make         ) 
advertisements  as  to  insure  their  interest  for  a  major- 
ity of  people  reading  certain  periodicals.  There  is 
in  the  advertising  business  no  room  for  "art  for  art's 
sake."  There  is  nowhere  room  for  art  for  art's  sake. 
Such  art  is ,  inconceivable.  There  is  art  which  gives 
pleasure,  and  has  no  other  mission,  and  there  is  the 
love  of  art  because  it  is  good  art.  Art  is  nothing       , 
unless  it  appeals  and  instructs  and  ennobles.  It  is  to        ; 
arouse  within  us  the  finer  and  better  emotions  that 
we  love  art.  If  it  did  not  so  affect  us  we  could  not 
care  for  it.  In  advertising  it  is  because  we  must  arouse 
some  emotion  in  the  people  who  read  that  we  wish  our 
work  to  be  artistic.  If  we  hope  to  arouse  favorable 
emotions  we  must  know  the  people  to  whom  we  are 
appealing,  and  that  is  the  office  of  science.  We  must 
know  how  to  appeal  to  the  sense  of  beauty  through 
the  eyes  of  these  people,  and  that  is  the  office  of  art. 

If  we  dissect  our  thought  about  art,  and  define  it 
to  our  minds  as  architecture,  painting,  etching,  mod- 
eling, sculpture,  drawing,  engraving,  etc.,  we  find  it 
difficult  to  conceive  that  advertising,  or  printing,  or 
bookmaking,  can  be  art.  But  if  we  go  a  step  further 

[57] 


Advertising 

with  our  analysis,  and  try  to  define  to  ourselves  what 
it  is  in  those  forms  of  art  that  appeals  to  us  and 
makes  us  delight  in  them,  we  may  discover  that  they 
are  formed  of  elements  which  must  be  dominant  in 
advertising,  printing  and  bookmaking,  if  those  indus- 
tries are  to  produce  things  that  please  us ;  and  we  find 
that  when  the  advertisement  is  constructed  according 
to  the  canons  of  art,  as  the  painting  is  constructed, 
we  feel  the  same  sense  of  pleasure  in  the  one  as  in  the 
other.  We  may  discover  that  that  which  especially 
attracts  us  in  a  piece  of  imaginative  literature  is 
some  form  of  words  that  appeals  directly  to  our  indi- 
viduality— agrees  with  our  experience  or  expresses 
our  sentiments;  and  we  may  discover  that  some  ad- 
vertisements attract  us  in  exactly  the  same  manner. 
It  is  thus  that  the  advertisement  partakes  of  art 
and  science  in  like  manner  as  the  water-color,  the 
poem,  the  essay,  or  the  story.  Advertising  that  has 
these  qualities  is  as  rightfully  entitled  to  be  called 
scientific  as  the  essay,  and  artistic  as  the  painting. 
Neither  is  art,  neither  is  science.  Both  are  artistic 
and  scientific.  The  work  of  the  investigating  chemist 
is  scientific,  and  so  also  is  the  work  of  the  advertising 
man  who  knows  and  respects,  and  makes  use  of,  the 
same  common  principles  of  science  and  canons  of  art. 


[68] 


IV 

Who  Pays  the  Cost? 

The  ideal  view  of  advertising  is  especially  interest- 
ing, because  it  suggests  a  force  that  is  capable  of 
profoundly  modifying  life,  and  is  modifying  it  to  a 
degree  that  is  not  generally  realized,  invading  its 
every  phrase  with  a  silent,  steady  persistency  that 
seems,  when  considered  in  connection  with  its  unvary- 
ing potential  success,  almost  uncanny.  It  is  also  a 
wonderfully  ductile  and  efficient  agency  for  the  pro- 
motion of  business.  We  see  great  factories  rise,  and 
great  fortunes  built  up,  as  the  results  of  an  inexor- 
able policy  of  pushing  upon  the  public  goods  that  the 
public  had  previously  no  idea  that  it  either  needed 
or  wanted. 

A  fertile-minded  man  conceives  some  novel  form 
for  a  common  food,  for  example,  and  begins  to  manu- 
facture it.  There  may  be  no  demand  for  it,  and  no 
necessity  for  it.  Nobody  knows  anything  about  it. 
The  same  food  is  available  in  a  different  form,  and 
possibly  a  better  form,  and  is  sold  at  a  more  economi- 
cal price  than  the  new  product  can  be  sold.  The  new 
food  costs  just  as  much  in  its  raw  state,  and  there 
has  to  be  added  the  cost  of  the  new  process  of  prepa- 
ration, the  fancy  package,  the  selling  and  advertis- 
ing, and  a  profit  large  enough  to  yield  the  promoter 
a  fortune  in  a  relatively  short  time — if  he  succeeds 
in  his  advertising  campaign. 

The  key  to  the  situation  is  the  advertising.  If  it  is 

[69] 


Advertising 

so  skilfully  done  as  to  lead  people  to  buy  the  stuff, 
the  problem  of  the  originator's  fortune  is  solved.  The 
consumers  get  a  fancy  package  of  ordinary  food, 
treated  by  grinding,  steaming,  or  some  other  process, 
to  appear  different.  It  tastes  different,  and  it  is  de- 
livered in  "sanitary  sealed  packages."  All  the  germs 
and  dirt  that  may  have  got  into  the  ordinary  prod- 
uct, that  had  been  eaten  from  father  to  son  longer 
than  the  memory  of  man  runneth  to  the  contrary,  are 
barred,  and  some  of  the  work  of  the  digestive  organs 
is  avoided — possibly  to  their  detriment. 

This  process,  or  some  process  resembling  it,  is 
applied  to  a  wide  range  of  the  necessities  of  life,  and 
advertising  is  made  to  float  them.  None  but  the  peo- 
ple with  economical  and  analytical  minds  realize  the 
extent  of  the  dominance  of  advertising  in  modern 
life,  nor  what  it  means  as  an  element  of  the  much 
discussed  high  cost  of  living.  It  is  not  alone  the  arti- 
cles that  are  advertised  but  the  policy  of  advertising 
that  has  made  it  possible  to  box  and  process  certain 
products  and  get  from  50  to  150  per  cent  more  for 
them,  that  has  induced  that  method  to  be  adopted  in 
the  handling  of  many  products  that  are  never  adver- 
tised. It  used  to  be  the  custom  to  get  smoked  beef, 
for  example,  shaved  from  the  big  chunk  as  wanted 
and  at  a  reasonable  price.  Now  it  is  usually  sold  in 
packages,  shaved  by  machinery  from  we  do  not  know 
what  kind  of  a  piece  of  pickled  and  scantily-smoked 
beef,  packed  in  packages  of  unknown  weight  and  sold 
at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  times  its  value.  A  small 
carton  weighing  three  ounces  is  sold  by  grocers  deal- 

[60] 


Who  Pays  the  Cost? 

Ing  with  the  poorer  classes  of  people  at  12  cents, 
which  means  64  cents  a  pound. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  foods  treated  in  this 
way,  and  some  of  them  are  priced  tremendously  above 
their  value,  above  what  they  can  still  be  purchased 
for  in  bulk.  A  favorite  device  is  to  get  a  product  so 
well  known  as  to  be  practically  standardized  and  then 
reduce  the  bulk  or  weight  of  the  contents  of  the 
carton  while  gradually  adding  to  the  price.  There  are 
standard  products  in  the  market  which  have  thus  been 
made  more  costly  to  the  consumer  within  a  few  years 
to  the  extent  of  15  per  cent  in  price  and  12  per  cent 
in  bulk,  while  the  price  of  the  raw  material  has  in  the 
meantime  declined  not  less  than  25  per  cent.  This 
means  that  the  people  who  buy  these  products  were 
gradually  forced  to  pay  at  least  50  per  cent  more 
than  a  fair  market  price,  and  at  least  25  per  cent 
more  than  the  same  thing  could  be  had  for  in  bulk. 

This  disposition  of  the  retail  market,  which  runs 
all  through  the  different  lines  of  materials  necessary 
for  householders  and  housekeepers  to  constantly  buy, 
and  constitutes  a  very  onerous  tax  upon  them,  is  not 
to  be  directly  charged  to  advertising.  But  advertising  V^ 
is,  in  a  very  real  sense,  responsible  for  the  custom. 
The  wonderful  development  of  advertising  has  taught 
what  can  be  done  with  people,  through  the  methods  ^v^'*-*'- 

suggested  by  psychology.   If  advertising  has   sug-  ^*y^!^i!^^^^^^^ 
gested  to  the  makers  and  dealers  this  onerous  policy, 
that  sin  will  have  to  be  charged  against  the  greater 
possible  benefit   that   has   already   flowed   from   the 
intimate  contact  with  and  control  of  the  masses  of 

[61] 


Advertising 

people.  There  has  never  yet  been  devised  a  sure  pre- 
ventive for  putting  beneficent  principles  to  the  use  of 
people  who  wish  to  deceive — stealing  "the  livery  of 
the  court  of  heaven  to  serve  the  devil  in." 

This  particular  evil  will  some  time  be  cured  by  the 
same  force  that  encouraged  its  parturition — adver- 
tising. Some  fine  and  glorious  day  it  will  dawn  upon 
even  these  men  who  are  prostituting  the  principles  of 
good  publicity  that  it  pays  better  to  cater  to  the 
welfare  of  people  than  to  shrewdly  rob  them  under 
the  pretense  of  benefits.  When  that  time  comes  we 
shall  find  that  there  will  be  a  return  to  those  practices 
that  inure  to  the  economic  benefit  of  the  buyers,  and 
our  smoked  beef  will  again  be  served  at  our  groceries 
as  of  old — sliced  from  the  honestly  cured  round  of 
beef  and  sold  to  us  at  so  much  per  16-ounce  pound, 
sans  multiple  wrappings  and  pasteboard  cartons; 
and  the  package  of  sausage  will  have  another  link  to 
compensate  for  the  two  ounces  filched  from  the  pack- 
age we  have  a  right  to  suppose  is  a  pound,  and  the 
several  unnecessary  wrappings. 

Advertising,  through  its  recent  development  and 
the  principles  of  psychology  it  has  brought  to  the 
front,  has  shown  men  who  sell  how  to  sell  for  more 
money.  That  is  the  gravest  charge  that  can  now  be 
made  against  it.  Advertisers  themselves  have  taken 
generous  advantage  of  this  discovered  wilhngness  of 
people  to  be  led  up  to  the  financial  sacrificial  altar. 
They  have  been  "piling  it  on"  during  the  past  few 
years. 

The  scientific  men  of  the  colleges  are  of  the  opinion 

[62] 


Who  Pays  the  Cost? 

that  advertising  contributes  to  the  high  cost  of  Hv- 
ing,  and  their  contention  is  exceedingly  difficult  to 
combat.  All  that  is  left  for  the  advocates  of  advertis- 
ing is  to  justify  it ;  and  it  is  no  small  task  to  justify 
it,  considering  the  array  of  facts  that  can  so  easily 
be  marshalled — the  crushing  array  of  facts.  As  an 
economic  proposition,  it  avails  little  to  show  that  an 
advertised  article  is  sold  for  less  than  it  could  be  sold 
for  if  the  advertising  that  had  been  done  for  it  had 
been  omitted,  and  the  sales  therefore  had  been  very 
small  in  comparison. 

It  is  generally  felt  that  advertising  is  something  of 
"a  gamble,"  and  that  therefore  the  advertiser  is  jus- 
tified in  figuring  for  an  excessive  potential  profit. 
So  many  advertised  articles  are  special,  patented,  or 
in  other  ways  held  by  the  advertiser  for  himself,  as 
against  the  trade  in  general,  that  he  is  in  control: 
the  selling  price. 

A  percentage  of  advertising  is  in  restraint  of  com 
petition,  by  reason  of  exclusive  ownership,  or  some 
device  or  method  intended  to  give  the  advertiser  a 
peculiar  advantage  over  others  handling  the  same  or 
similar  product.  This  exclusive  element  is  often  util- 
ized for  the  purpose  of  getting  excessive  prices  from 
the  buyer.  In  advertising  this  is  excused  and  con- 
doned in  various  ways. 

The  advertiser  of  a  new  thing  is  not  certain  of 
getting  a  sale  sufficient  to  justify  a  moderate  profit. 
He  figures  that  he  must  get  his  money  back  on  the 
basis  of  a  possible  small  sale.  So  he  adds  a  large 
margin  to  his  costs,  and  when  he  finds  that  he  is  sell- 

[63J 


A 


\ 


Advertising 

ing  liberally  he  keeps  the  big  margin  for  the  purpose 
of  accumulating  a  fortune,  as  the  reward  of  his 
acumen  and  industry.  If  a  patent  conflicting  with  his 
own  patent  is  granted,  he  fights  it,  or  buys  it  up  for 
a  quiet  life  in  his  safe;  thus  protecting  his  trade — 
and  his  patrons.  Advertising  is  his  warrant  and  his 
protection.  Possibly  he  began  to  advertise  on  the 
credit  of  some  publisher  or  advertising  agent,  but 
when  the  time  comes  when  the  public  manifests  a  curi- 
osity about  his  business  methods,  or  a  rival  seeks  to 
market  a  product  at  a  lower  price,  he  points  to  his 
advertising  expenditure,  intimating  that  he  has  sacri- 
ficed all  these  thousands,  or  hundreds  of  thousands, 
for  the  definite  purpose  of  bringing  the  excellencies 
of  his  product  to  the  attention  of  all  the  people. 

The  stark  financial  fact  is  that  all  of  the  advertis- 
ing that  is  successful  is  paid  for  by  the  consumers ; 
and  that  all  of  the  unsuccessful  advertising  is  done 
with  the  hope  that  the  consumers  will  eventually  pay 
for  it. 

The  question  of  the  justification  of  the  cost  of 
advertising,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  consumer, 
does  not  rest  with  the  question  of  who  ultimately 
pays  for  advertising.  It  is  manifestly  a  good  invest- 
ment for  the  consumers  to  pay  for  some  of  the  adver- 
tising that  is  charged  up  to  costs  by  the  manufactur- 
ers and  dealers ;  and  as  to  much  of  the  advertising 
they  pay  for,  it  is  as  manifestly  purely  an  expense 
for  them. 

There  has  been  a  vast  amount  of  sophistical  ex- 
planation of  this  question,  "Who  pays  for  the  adver- 

[64] 


Who  Pays  the  Cost? 

tising?"  But  nothing  has  been  brought  forward  to 
show  that  the  consumer  does  not  pay  for  all  of  it  that 
is  successful;  and  more  remotely,  and  through  more 
devious  channels,  all  of  the  unsuccessful  advertising 
as  well  is  paid  for  by  the  general  mass  of  consumers, 
though  not  by  the  particular  class  of  consumers  that 
was  appealed  to  by  the  unsuccessful  advertisers. 

The  real  question  about  the  cost  of  advertising  is, 
of  course,  whether  or  not  the  advertised  proposition 
has  within  it  sufficient  promise  of  benefit  to  the  con- 
sumer to  warrant  that  the  cost  of  bringing  it  to  his 
attention  may  be  made  a  charge  upon  him. 

The  question  of  the  cost  of  advertising,  put  in  this 
way,  is  capable  of  being  discussed  upon  economic 
grounds.  Many  interesting  questions  are  involved. 
There  is  first  the  question  of  free  will.  Whatever  dis- 
position of  advertising  costs  may  be  made,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  consent  of  the  consumer  to  be  charged 
with  them,  under  any  circumstances,  is  never  so- 
licited. He  is  an  involuntary  party  to  the  proposed 
draft  upon  his  money.  The  advertiser  is  virtually 
exercising  that  legal  communal  right  called  "eminent 
domain"  when  he  makes  a  schedule  of  prices  for  com- 
modities to  include  the  charges  for  advertising,  with- 
out consulting  the  consumer. 

That  the  consumer  cannot  be  consulted  must  rather 
be  considered  as  adding  to  the  responsibility  of  the 
advertiser  than  in  the  nature  of  his  justification.  If 
it  is  urged  in  justification,  it  is  quite  fair  to  suggest 
that  the  advertiser  is  inclined  to  hide  his  arbitrary 
acts  behind  that  other  legal  shibboleth,  hateful  in  any 

[65] 


Advertising 

connection  it  is  used,  "Caveat  Emptor."  It  is  all  well 
enough  to  cry  "Let  the  buyer  beware,"  but  to  justify 
even  that  barbarous  legal  maxim  it  should  be  consid- 
ered that  the  conditions  of  which  the  buyer  must 
beware  shall  be  at  least  measurably  under  his  control, 
when  he,  having  perceived  that  he  must  beware  of 
economic  traps  and  pitfalls,  wishes  to  exercise  his 
rights  of  self-protection.  A  man  cannot  profit  by  this 
maxim  when  the  conditions  of  the  transaction  he  is 
invited  to  contemplate  are  fixed  before  he  comes  into 
it.  A  man  strapped  to  a  railroad  track  cannot  profit 
greatly  by  the  sign  "Look  out  for  the  engine"  when 
he  hears  the  express  roaring  down  upon  him. 

Therefore,  while  it  is  freely  acknowledged  that  it 
is  impossible  to  get  the  consent  of  consumers  to  have 
advertising  expense  charged  to  them,  and  that  to 
suggest  it  is  a  manifest  absurdity,  it  is  also  evident 
that  a  charge  for  advertising  cannot  be  put  upon 
the  selling  price  of  an  article  without  by  that  act 
increasing  the  price  of  the  article  to  the  person  who 
buys  it.  It  is  not  competent  to  argue  that  if  the 
article  had  not  been  advertised  at  all  its  price  would 
have  been  even  more.  Whatever  the  price  might  have 
been  for  the  unadvertised  article,  as  against  the  price 
for  the  same  article  advertised,  there  would  have  been 
in  it  no  percentage  for  advertising. 

The  justification  of  advertising  expense  charged  to 
the  consumer  is  to  be  sought  elsewhere  than  in  the 
specious,  and  often  spurious,  plea  that  the  article 
would  have  cost  more  had  it  not  been  advertised.  This 
is  the  usual  plea  of  large  advertisers,  and  that  they 

[66] 


Who  Pays  the  Cost? 

feel  obliged  to  make  use  of  it  is  evidence  of  the  weak- 
ness of  their  case  or  of  their  reason.  We  must  come 
down  to  a  more  fundamental  economic  principle.  We 
must  examine  the  laws  of  value.  If  the  advertised 
article  is  economically  worth  the  price  charged  the 
consumer  for  it,  there  is  no  further  question  regard-/ 
ing  the  items  of  expense  incident  to  the  justice  of  the 
price  asked.  It  does  not  matter  that  the  selHng  price 
has  to  be  made  up  of  a  series  of  cost  items,  one  of 
which  is  advertising,  if  it  is  shown  to  be  reasonable  in 
view  of  the  necessity  that  induces  the  buyer  to  buy 
and  the  utility  the  article  bought  may  prove  to  be 
to  him. 

The  progress  of  the  world  has  been  made  possible 
through  gaining  the  cooperation  of  masses  of  people. 
Cooperation  is  impossible  until  the  people  have  been 
informed  of  the  objects  to  be  sought.  Cooperative 
benefit  in  new  inventions  and  discoveries,  and  through 
improvements  in  living  accessories  and  conditions,  is 
what  advertising  has  to  offer  in  this  way.  There  are 
all  the  time  coming  on  the  market  devices  that  are 
positively  helpful — without  which  our  rate  of  prog- 
ress or  our  comfort  would  be  materially  limited  and 
checked.  It  is  necessary  that  these  things  shall  be 
known  to  the  people  they  may  benefit.  Advertising  is 
the  practical  method  for  making  them  known.  With- 
out it  progress  would  be  exceedingly  slow. 

The  safety  razor,  to  mention  a  specific  example, 
would  have  been  known  to  "but  a  small  proportion  of 
its  present  users  if  any  other  method  than  advertis- 
ing had  been  adopted  to  market  it.  Now  it  is  evident 

[67] 


Advertising 

that  not  only  a  great  number  of  individuals  have 
benefited  by  the  advertising  of  safety  razors,  but 
that  there  is  a  large  communal  benefit  that  has  ac- 
crued in  consequence  of  that  advertising.  It  is  no 
sufficient  disclaimer  to  suggest  that  the  marketing  of 
these  razors  was,  in  its  early  stages,  uneconomic,  and 
that  the  price  charged  for  the  devices  was  exorbitant. 
It  is  true  that  the  idea  was  rather  wild,  and  the 
chances  of  failure  large.  The  idea  was  new,  and  not 
likel}^  to  be  accepted  until  after  a  long  and  deter- 
mined campaign  of  promotion  had  been  executed.  In 
the  early  days  the  sales  of  safety  razors  could  not 
have  been  much  in  excess  of  enough  to  justify  the 
expense.  There  was  then  a  time  of  large  profits, 
which  was  followed  by  competition  and  price  reduc- 
tions that  possibly  brought  the  business  in  general 
down  to  a  plane  of  profit  that  was  not  only  not  ex- 
cessive but  not  adequate.  One  decade  sufficed  to 
squeeze  all  of  the  exorbitant  profit  out  of  the  busi- 
ness, and  witness  the  beginnings  of  the  inevitable 
series  of  failures  due  to  over-production  and  over- 
advertising.  The  great  company  of  self-shavers 
brought  to  light  by  the  advertising  campaigns  paid 
for  the  idea  with  the  price  of  their  first  outfits. 
Looked  at  as  the  one  transaction,  they  paid  too  much 
— more  than  the  circumstances  of  the  initial  act  war- 
ranted. They  paid  $5  for  an  outfit  that  might  eco- 
nomically have  been  sold  for  less.  They  could  not  at 
once  consume  that  purchase,  and  therefore  exhaust 
its  usufruct.  Within  a  year  or  less  that  exorbitant 
purchase  became  an  economy  to  them.  Their  savings 

[68] 


Who  Pays  the  Cost? 

on  their  shaving  bills  had  more  than  absorbed  the 
first  cost  of  the  razors,  and  instead  of  continuing  to 
figure  on  balance  sheets  as  an  expense  the  original 
cost  had  become  the  cause  of  constant  and  consider- 
able savings. 

There  are  many  advertised  things  that  will  show  "'j 
this  kind  of  economy,  if  considered  in  the  same  true 
manner ;  and  it  is  in  this  way  that  the  cost  of  adver- 
tising must  be  reckoned  and  distributed  over  the  bal- 
ance sheets  of  the  people  who  read  the  advertisements 
and  respond  to  their  invitations  to  buy.  If  it  is  not 
possible  to  apply  this  method  to  the  results  of  adver- 
tising it  is  thereby  made  evident  that  that  particular 
advertising  is  not  economical  for  buyers,  and  that  it 
does  add  to  the  high  cost  of  living  in  an  unwarrant- 
able manner.  It  is  the  price  of  profitable  knowledge 
that  the  wise  advertiser  of  the  worthy  article  exacts 
from  the  people  who  buy  it,  and  it  is  usually  a  fact 
that  whatever  they  pay  for  this  element  of  their  pur- 
chase is  the  lowest  factor  of  their  total  bill.  It  is  lost 
sight  of  by  the  critics  of  advertising  that  a  large 
part  of  all  the  advertising  that  is  done  is  for  the  pur-  v^ 
pose  of  giving  consumers  some  valuable  information ; 
letting  them  know  how  and  where,  and  at  what  price, 
they  can  supply  themselves  with  things  that  will 
make  for  their  comfort  and  happiness. 


[69] 


Misleading  Advertising 

It  is  very  difficult  to  disguise  misleading  advertis- 
ing. The  cloven  hoof  generally  shows.  It  is  the  very 
ignorant  and  the  very  credulous  who  are  victimized. 
The  majority  of  the  victims  are  intent  upon  securing 
some  unfair  or  unreasonable  advantage.  Readers  of 
advertising  take  very  long  chances.  The  great  adver- 
tising frauds  have  been  based  upon  such  ridiculous 
claims  that  it  is  a  wonder  a  single  person  able  to  read 
\would  give  them  a  moment's  thought.  But  they  do, 
and  because  they  do  their  infirmity  of  judgment  must 
be  considered.  It  is  as  reprehensible  on  the  part  of 
advertisers  to  take  the  money  of  fools  as  it  is  for  the 
common  pickpocket  to  take  the  money  out  of  the  cup 
of  the  blind  beggar.  So,  reputable  publishers  and 
advertisers  are  inclined  to  take  drastic  measures  to 
protect  those  who  have  not  wit  enough  to  protect 
themselves. 

It  has  been  stated  that  there  is  in  much  of  the 
advertising  that  has  a  reputable  appearance  an  ele- 
ment of  deceit  that  it  is  difficult  for  the  sophisticated 
to  detect,  but  the  great  advertising  frauds  are  easily 
distinguished,  and  as  easily  avoided.  Nobody  but  a 
credulous  and  avaricious  person  would  pay  the 
slightest  attention  to  the  mining  and  land  announce- 
ments that  have  been  bonanzas  to  their  promoters  and 
sink-holes  to  the  people  who  "invested."  There  ought 
not  to  be  a  person  in  the  United  States,  able  to  read, 

[70] 


Misleading  Advertising 

who  will  be  so  much  a  fool  as  to  pay  the  slightest 
attention  to  the  patent-medicine  and  "cure"  adver- 
tisements ;  but  there  are  many  who  do,  and  who  pay 
money  to  continue  and  nourish  their  delusion  long 
after  they  have  had  evidence  enough  to  convince  the 
most  sceptical  in  almost  any  other  phase  of  life. 

Stupidity  and  cupidity  explain  the  constant  vogue 
of  the  mining,  land,  banking,  etc.,  advertisements; 
and  the  fact  that  many  people  believe  they  are  cured 
by  the  advertised  nostrums  explains  their  continued 
vogue.  Many  people  are  cured  by  these  so-called 
remedies,  that  have  no  actual  value  whatever.  Disease 
is  so  much  a  fiction  of  the  mind  that  anything  that 
can  arouse  faith  cures  a  long  list  of  ailments  that 
owe  their  existence  to  the  sufferer's  belief  that  they 
are  real.  While  the  "regular"  doctors  continue  to 
perform  cures  through  making  their  patients  beheve 
they  will  recover,  so  long  as  the  Christian  Scientists 
do  actually  cure  a  large  proportion  of  the  cases  that 
appeal  to  them,  so  long  as  Dr.  Worcester  and  his 
aids  in  Boston  are  constantly  curing  people  suffering 
with  very  real  diseases,  no  one  can  deny  to  the 
patent-medicine  men  a  share  in  the  general  mind-cure 
business.  The  evil  of  their  practice  is,  of  course,  that 
they  do  not  discriminate,  and  are  always  ready  to  dis- 
cover diseases  that  their  poor  dupes  never  had  sus- 
pected and  that  exist  only  as  opportunity  to  defraud. 

When  a  gullible  person  sends  money  to  an  un- 
known person  for  an  advertised  article,  not  vouched 
for  by  the  character  and  policy  of  the  publication  in 
which  the  advertisement  appears,  he  invites  loss — 

[71] 


Advertising 

challenges  the  regular  order  of  affairs  to  reverse 
probabilities  that  he  may  get  something  for  less  than 
he  knows  the  genuine  article  is  worth.  When  a  person 
allows  the  cheap  and  manifest  bait  of  the  advertise- 
ment to  obscure  what  little  sense  he  has,  he  should 
consider  that  the  lesson  he  gets  when  he  is  fleeced  is 
worth  the  price,  and  turn  his  loss  into  gain  by  after- 
wards keeping  away  from  that  snare. 

Advertising  has  now  been  a  feature  of  the  daily 
life  of  all  people  long  enough  to  have  bred  in  them 
some  degree  of  sophistication  with  reference  to 
it.  But  people  do  not  learn  to  care  for  their  inter- 
ests. They  probably  never  will.  More  than  half  of  all 
the  people  need  to  be  always  under  the  care  of  guard- 
ians. And  the  advertising  interests  have  got  to  act 
as  their  guardians,  so  far  as  harm  coming  to  them 
from  advertising  is  concerned. 

When  all  is  said  about  the  misleading  character  of 
some  advertising  that  can  be  said  we  find  that  it  is 
but  a  small  element  in  the  whole  business.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  complaints  arise  from  the  contribu- 
tory negligence  and  foolishness  of  the  buyers.  Adver- 
tising appeals  to  sentiment,  and  it  must  employ  some 
lure  to  attract  favorable  attention.  In  a  sense,  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive  of  advertising  that  will  not 
deceive  somebody. 

Men  and  women  are  not  so  constituted  that  they 
will  respond  to  a  plain  statement.  They  will  not  avoid 
sudden  death  and  total  ruin  unless  they  are  per- 
suaded. They  will  not  seek  salvation  unless  the  de- 
lights of  the  future  are  painted  for  them  in  vivid 

[72] 


Misleading  Advertising 

colors.  If  there  is  any  excuse  for  advertising  there  is 
the  coordinate  obligation  to  do  it  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  make  it  effective.  If  it  is  desirable  for  people  to 
buy  a  certain  thing  it  is  necessary  to  persuade  them 
to  do  so. 

It  is  this  extremely  delicate  and  hazy  line  between 
justifiable  and  necessary  lure  for  the  justifiable  pur- 
pose and  the  bait  for  the  unjustifiable  purpose  that 
divides  proper  from  improper  advertising.  It  is  some- 
times almost  impossible  to  draw  this  line.  It  is  always 
happening  that  the  true  nature  of  advertising  is  not 
at  first  apparent,  even  to  the  expert  and  practiced  eye 
and  judgment. 

Much  of  the  criticism  of  advertising  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  its  critics  are  not  willing  to  allow  that  it 
must  exercise  lure.  Those  estimable  people  are  willing 
to  listen  to  the  hyperbole  of  their  pastors,,  to  the  soft 
and  comforting  talk  of  their  physicians;  they  read 
with  glowing  approval  the  stories  in  their  favorite 
magazines,  and  absorb  the  color  given  the  news  re- 
ports in  their  newspapers ;  they  listen  with  smiling 
approval  to  the  iridescent  talk  at  the  dinner- table, 
and  tolerantly  smile  at  the  wonderfully  inflated  tales 
of  "grandpa"  who  "fit  into  the  war" ;  the  ladies  dis- 
cuss their  dress  and  their  neighbors  with  certain 
definite  embroidered  effects,  and  the  men  dispose  of 
their  rivals  in  business  and  golf  without  exercising 
restraining  choice  as  to  adjectives. 

But  there  is  not  a  disposition  to  give  the  advertiser 
that  privilege  of  colorful  language  and  vivifying  in- 
cident. His  efforts  must  conform  to  a  different  stand- 

[T3], 


^. 


Advertising 

r 

ard.  That  is  impossible.  There  must  be  that  same  lure 
in  the  advertisement  as  we  insist  upon  putting  into 
other  phases  and  manifestations  of  life.  If  it  were 
not  the  privilege  of  the  advertiser  to  persuade  people, 
why  would  he  advertise  at  all.?  It  is  the  office  of  ad- 
vertising to  entice,  and  how  can  that  be  done  without 
lure  in  the  advertising.?  It  is  not  competent  to  argue 
that  advertising  may  better  be  dispensed  with  than 
that  it  be  made  the  vehicle  of  disingenuous  adjectival 
allurement.  If  that  position  were  tenable  there  would 
be  no  advertising  question. 

It  is  possible  to  arrive  at  a  better  understanding 
of  advertising  if  we  frankly  regard  advertisements 
as  human  documents,  expressions  of  the  aspirations, 
needs,  plans,  and  ambitions  of  the  men  who  write 
them,  or  for  whom  they  are  written.  Then  we  would 
be  able  to  understand  some  of  the  apparent  incon- 
sistencies of  the  advertisements  we  see  in  newspapers 
and  magazines,  and  we  would  be  able  to  consider 
them  with  a  little  more  charitable  understanding. 

If  we  think  of  the  artificial  devices  resorted  to  by 
people  in  their  intercourse  with  one  another,  for  the 
purpose  of  producing  certain  effects,  favorable  or 
otherwise,  we  may  excuse  some  of  the  artificialities 
of  the  advertisements.  People  are  "all  things  to  all 
men."  They  must  be.  A  person  with  pronounced  char- 
acter is  not  the  same  person  to  two  of  his  intimates, 
and  the  more  intimate  his  friends  are  with  him  the 
more  variety  they  perceive  in  him.  The  speech  of  peo- 
ple does  not  convey  the  same  meaning  to  all.  It  is 
modified  according  to  the  nature  of  the  listener.  It  is 

[74] 


Misleading  Advertising 

not  understood  alike.  No  two  people  will  get  the  same 
impression  from  a  lecture,  nor  will  they  understand 
the  statements  of  the  lecturer  identically.  A  great 
preacher  will  not  instil  exactly  the  same  theological 
principles  in  all  of  his  auditors. 

This  colorable  quality  of  speech  and  apprehension 
which  we  recognize  in  people  extends  also  into  and 
over  their  expressions  through  other  forms  than 
speech  —  through  their  written  thought,  and  espe- 
cially in  their  correspondence.  A  man's  letters  reveal 
quite  a  different  personality  from  that  suggested  by 
his  speech.  For  some  reason,  it  is  much  easier  to  write 
from  the  bottom  of  the  heart  than  to  speak  from  that 
locality.  One  can,  and  habitually  does,  write  himself 
into  letters  to  friends  in  whose  presence  he  is  dumb, 
or  confines  his  conversation  to  the  weather.  Many  a 
man  who  has  become  noted  since  death  owes  his  pos- 
thumous fame  to  the  letters  he  has  written,  or  to  a 
journal  he  kept  all  his  life  in  profound  secret. 

The  advertisements  that  are  effective  are  parts  of 
the  personality  of  people.  They  partake  of  all  this 
graphic  personality.  They  are  human  documents. 
They  have  that  peculiar  interest  which  attaches  to 
literary  work;  though,  indeed,  some  of  them  are  far 
enough  from  hterature.  They  are  entitled  to  a  judg- 
ment different  from  that  we  would  pass  upon  a  sales- 
man who  should  mislead  us  as  to  the  composition  and 
quality  of  a  piece  of  textile  goods.  We  are  inchned 
to  look  upon  the  advertisement  in  a  different  light, 
because  we  know  very  well  that  it  is  only  an  invitation 
for  us  to  come  and  look  at  the  cloth.  We  feel  that 

[75] 


Advertising 

when  we  actually  see  the  cloth,  when  a  skilled  sales- 
man shows  it  to  us,  he  will  acquaint  us  with  its  exact 
qualities;  and  we,  when  we  take  it  into  our  hands, 
look  at  it,  feel  its  texture,  test  its  strength,  and  play 
its  tints  in  the  sunlight,  will  be  able  to  judge  its  use- 
fulness for  our  purposes.  Here  we  are  right  against 
all  the  facilities  for  the  final  tests,  and  if  the  salesman 
persists  in  trying  to  have  us  accept  a  view  that  we 
feel  is  not  altogether  right,  or  that  is  not  fully  sus- 
tained by  the  goods  as  we  see  them,  we  resent  such 
treatment,  and  probably  leave  the  place  without  mak- 
ing a  purchase,  and  with  a  distinct  dislike  for  the 
salesman. 

But  if  this  same  salesman  had  met  us  at  our  office 
or  home,  and  had  told  us  exactly  the  same  tale  about 
the  goods  that  he  did  tell  us  when  we  were  examining 
the  goods,  we  would  not  have  resented  it.  So  we  do 
not  resent  the  statements  and  imphcations  of  adver- 
tisements that  make  some  attempt  to  paint  the  lily. 
We  know  it  is  the  invitation  to  the  sale,  not  the  sale. 
We  court  the  invitation,  but  we  will  not  tolerate  de- 
ception at  the  final  moment  of  the  sale,  when  it  is 
necessary  for  us  to  rely  to  some  Qxtent  upon  the 
statements  and  advice  of  the  seller/  There  is  a  vital 
difference  between  the  invitation  to  the  sale  and  the 
sale,  and  if  that  difference  could  be  explicitly  stated 
it  would  correctly  characterize  the  advertisement  in 
contrast  with  the  sale. 

The  "truth  in  advertising"  that  we  hear  so  much 
about  is,  therefore,  a  shibboleth  that  is  to  be  taken 
with  some  grains  of  understanding.  The  truth  that 

[76] 


Misleading  Advertising 

can  be  made  the  basis  for  advertising  is  not  the  same 
as  the  truth  that  must  pass  current  as  man  to  man. 
It  is  such  truth  as  the  artist  observes  when  he  paints 
a  picture  and  arranges  the  details  to  appeal  to 
sentiment,  rather  than  graphic  verisimilitude.  The 
photograph  of  a  horse  in  motion  is  without  doubt 
anatomically  true,  but  it  is  false  to  all  that  our  eyes 
tell  us  of  the  horse  in  action.  We  never  saw  such 
grotesque  actions,  and  as  a  matter  of  actual  fact 
they  do  not  exist  for  us.  Which  view  of  the  horse  in 
action  is  the  true  one?  It  is  not  the  anatomical  pho- 
tograph. If  we  could  have  a  photograph  of  the  horse 
in  motion  taken  with  an  x-ray  outfit  we  would  have 
another  illustration  of  one  phase  of  truth,  but  it 
would  be  strange  and  untrue  to  us,  considered  in  the 
light  of  our  lifetime  of  observation  of  the  horse. 

In  accepting  truth  for  ourselves  we  are  compelled 
to  rely  upon  our  experience  and  observation.  If  some 
savant  tells  us  that  what  we  see  is  not  in  accord  with 
the  revelations  or  deductions  of  science,  his  truth  is 
not  the  truth  that  we  are  compelled  to  accept  as  our 
standard.  That  in  our  lives  is  true  which  impresses 
us  as  truth.  That  is  truth  which  we  feel  leads  us  most 
surely  toward  our  ideals.  That  advertisement  which 
impels  us  to  consider  the  purchase  of  a  handsome 
piece  of  goods  for  a  suit  or  a  gown,  is  for  us  more 
true  than  another  that  might  give  us  an  analysis  of 
the  same  goods,  for  the  reason  stated — that  the  ad- 
vertisement is  regarded  as  the  invitation  to  look  upon 
the  goods,  and  not  as  a  certificate  of  their  compo- 
sition. 

[TT] 


Advertising 

We  are  not  to  be  lured  to  anything,  except  duty, 
unless  by  agreeable  means.  The  beauty  of  form  and 
the  beauty  of  groups  of  words  are  what  we  look  for 
in  the  invitation  of  the  advertisement,  and  those  qual- 
ities are  what  contribute  to  truthful  advertisements. 

But  the  statements  of  the  advertisement  must  lead 
to  truth,  and  be,  so  far  as  they  are  specific,  entirely 
truthful.  It  will  not  do  to  claim  that  wool  is  sealskin. 
It  will  not  do  to  claim  that  ours  is  the  greatest  store 
in  the  world,  when  it  ranks  third  on  the  street. 

There  is  a  mistaken  notion  current  among  certain 
advertisers  that  the  lie  obvious  is  good  advertising. 
It  is  the  worst  possible.  The  lie  inferential  is  almost 
as  bad.  It  deceives  nobody  to  say  "Value  $10"  on  the 
ticket  that  marks  the  goods  at  $4.98.  This  "value" 
shibboleth  is  one  of  the  more  flimsy  of  the  flimsy  de- 
vices of  the  untruthful  advertiser.  Some  of  the  repu- 
table stores  that  use  it  have  evolved  a  most  curious 
justification.  They  say  that  goods  so  marked  have 
the  value  alleged  if  by  thus  marking  them  they  can 
be  sold!  The  bona  fides  of  this  attitude  may  be 
thought  to  be  questionable.  Would  these  advertisers 
wish  buyers  to  understand  the  meaning  of  "value" 
as  they  explain  it  in  their  attempt  to  justify  adver- 
tising in  which  it  is  an  important  element.?  Suppose 
they  were  to  insert  in  their  advertisements  their 
understanding  of  the  word  they  make  such  profuse 
use  of ! 

The  value  of  truth  to  the  advertiser  is  very  like 
the  value  of  the  modification  of  literal  truth  in  the 
advertisement.  It  is  most  valuable  as  a  shibboleth.  It 

[■78] 


Misleading  Advertising 

is  worth  much  to  the  merchant,  even  while  reckoning 
a  big  per  cent  of  profit,  to  be  able  to  say  that  cus- 
tomers are  always  told  the  truth  about  goods.  It  is 
worth  much  to  have  customers  feel  that  they  have 
always  been  told  the  truth  in  certain  stores.  There 
is  nothing  so  valuable  for  advertising  purposes. 
Frankness  and  openness  sell  goods. 

The  real  meaning  of  the  recent  vogue  of  "truth 
in  advertising"  is  that  advertisers  have  made  up  their 
minds  to  do  less  actual  and  obvious  lying.  There  is  a 
difference.  The  truth  in  an  advertisement  may  be 
dressed  in  an  attractive  garb  of  words  or  illustra- 
tion. The  lie  is  always  stark.  There  is  some  justifica- 
tion if  some  of  the  ultimate  truth  is  withheld  from 
an  advertisement,  because  the  advertisement  is  not 
usually  the  ultimate  seller.  The  lie  cannot  be  so 
garbed  as  to  be  admissible.  The  lie  in  advertising  is 
the  selhng  crime  for  which  there  is  no  excuse.  The 
effect  of  the  lie  in  advertising  is  not  to  build  up  trade, 
but  to  pull  it  down  and  limit  it.  The  trade  liar  is 
always  well  known,  and  he  has  always  to  work  for 
new  customers.  His  lying  is  his  undoing.  The  lie  in 
advertising  works  much  harm  to  the  ignorant  and  the 
gullible,  and  they  must  be  protected.  If  the  lie  in 
advertising  affected  only  the  shrewd  and  the  able  it 
might  be  left  to  do  its  purging  work.  We  are  all 
ashamed  of  the  impulse  to  take  pennies  from  children 
or  from  the  blind. 


[79] 


\ 


^   / 


VI 

Ethics  in  Advertising 


/  The  person  who  gets  "stung"  because  he  is  credu- 

/  lous  beyond  the  point  of  reason  is  quite  certain  that 
advertising  is  immoral.  There  is  a  lurking  sense  in 
the  minds  of  many  people  that  advertising  is  not 
altogether  ethical.  The  professional  men  are  certain 
that  it  is  not.  The  advertisers  themselves  do  not  have 
entire  faith  in  it  as  a  means  of  demonstrating  highly 
moral  motives.  The  magazine  men  do  not  esteem  news- 
papers as  wholly  moral  in  their  advertising  practice, 
and  the  newspaper  men  return  the  compliment,  with 
interest  added. 

There  is,  it  must  be  admitted  by  the  most  zealous 
advocate  of  advertising,  a  definite  suspicion  of  adver- 
tising, as  a  profession,  in  the  minds  of  a  great  many 
people  whose  opinion  is  entitled  to  respect.  It  is 
beside  the  question  merely  to  say  that  this  suspicion 
is  not  well  grounded,  that  it  is  due  to  practices  that 
,  have  been  abandoned  by  progressive  advertisers,  that 
I  it  is  unworthy  the  intelligence  of  up-to-date  people, 
etc.  It  is  there,  in  the  minds  of  many  people.  It  is  in 
the  minds  of  thoughtful  advertising  men.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  serious  stumbling  blocks  in  the  way  of  those 
people  who  think  they  see  in  advertising  methods  a 
way  to  hasten  the  regeneration  of  the  world,  to  pro- 
mote every  good  project  that  needs  the  cooperation 
of  many  people. 

To  say  that  advertising  is  used  to  promote  immoral 
[80] 


'    Ethics  in  Advertising 

purposes  is  not  to  touch  the  reason  for  the  feeling 
of  distrust  that  is  felt  with  regard  to  it.  To  recall 
that  the  merchants  who  use  it  do  so  for  the  purpose 
of  exaggerating  the  value  of  their  goods  in  the  minds 
of  people  is  not  to  account  for  its  reputation.  To  be 
conscious  that  advertising  has  led  thousands  of  peo- 
ple to  squander  millions  of  money  does  not  touch  the 
root  o:^  the  matter.  The  feeling  against  advertising 
lies  deeper  than  any  of  these  items  of  criticism  indi- 
cate. It  is  regarded  as  a  sinister  force  in  the  world, 
by  some  right-thinking  people  who  have  not  taken 
pains  to  carefully  analyze  the  sources  of  their 
prejudices. 

It  is  probable  that  advertising  has,  from  the  time 
that  it  became  a  factor  in  selling,  been  employed  to 
lead  people  to  do  things  that  were  not  beneficial  to 
them — that  were  meant  to  defraud  or  degrade  them 
that  the  unscrupulous  advertisers  might  gain.  It  is 
used  in  that  mean  way  now,  and  probably  will  be  so 
used  for  man}"^  years  to  come. 

The  advertising  profession,  as  represented  by  its 
best  elements  and  by  the  local  and  national  organiza- 
tions, is  making  a  determined  effort  to  make  adver- 
tising more  worthy  of  the  respect  of  everybody,  and 
to  eradicate  this  feeling  of  hostility  from  the  public 
mind.  The  forces  that  are  resisting  the  movement  are 
the  old  ones — money  and  power.  Advertising  has  bred 
up  a  variety  of  methods  for  getting  money  without 
fairly  earning  it,  and  those  methods  will  be  held 
tenaciously  by  the  unscrupulous  and  greedy.  The 
great  advertising  mediums  are  in  a  position  to  raakei 

[81] 


Advertising 

degrading  and  fraudulent  advertising  impossible, 
and  many  of  them  are  trying  to  do  so.  But  there  is 
as  yet  a  sufficient  proportion  that  are  unwilling  to 
risk  the  loss  of  the  income  derived  from  the  frauds 
to  give  the  frauds  opportunity  to  ply  their  piratical 
trade.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  newspaper  that 
makes  the  public  welfare  its  great  boast  allowing  the 
schemes  of  the  plunderers  through  advertising  to  use 
its  columns.  Nearly  all  the  important  magazines 
select  their  advertising  with  the  welfare  of  their 
readers  in  mind.  There  are  yet  several  with  great 
circulations  that  allow  a  variety  of  manifest  frauds 
to  operate  through  their  pages.  Why  they  do  so  is 
quite  apparent:  They  regard  the  public  that  buys 
their  magazines  and  reads  the  advertising  that  they 
print  as  a  bounteous  treasury  from  which  they  are 
licensed  to  draw  as  much  revenue  as  possible. 
.  The  newspapers  are  leading  offenders  in  this  cor- 
[  ruption  process.  While  a  few  of  them  have  "cleaned 
up"  their  columns,  and  will  not  take  an  order  for 
advertising  a  manifest  fraud,  nor  for  advertising  in 
a  misleading  manner,  too  many  take  whatever  is 
offered.  Some  make  a  faint  attempt  at  selection ;  will 
not  take  the  most  virulent  of  the  frauds,  but  do  not 
scruple  to  give  opportunity  to  a  choice  aggregation 
of  money-getting  sfchemes  and  deceptive  medical  and 
financial  advertising. 

To  visualize  this  matter  let  us  take  a  certain  big 

New  York  newspaper — one  that  does  as  much  for  the 

public  good,  on  its  editorial  page,  as  any  newspaper 

in  the  land.  Without  making  any  search  for  the  worst 

.     [82] 


Ethics  in  Advertising 

copy,  we  will  take  that  dated  the  day  this  chapter  is 
written.  Without  examining  the  small  advertisements 
— the  "classified"  sections — we  discover  27  advertise- 
ments that  are  clearly  objectionable — medical,  invest- 
ment, liquors,  and  cigarettes.  These  advertisements 
occupied  1,352  agate  Hues  of  space.  Reckon  them  at 
25  cents  per  line  (they  probably  average  more)  and 
we  have  $338  income  for  one  day.  At  this  rate  this 
paper  would  be  drawing  $123,370  a  year  from  this 
traffic  in  the  money,  health,  and  morals  of  its  readers. 

Let  us  assume  that  the  advertisers  in  this  paper 
spend  about  5  per  cent  of  their  gross  income  for 
advertising.  Probably  they  spend  more,  but  to  get  an 
idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  business  we  may  put 
them  on  the  basis  of  5  per  cent.  Suppose  that  there 
are  twenty  newspapers  used.  A  little  figuring  shows 
that  the  amount  taken  from  the  public,  through  the 
favor  of  the  twenty  newspapers,  would 
vicinity  of  $50,000,000  a  year. 

Fifty  millions  is  quite  a  sum  of  money  for  the 
newspapers  to  have  on  their  consciences.  The  question 
is.  Do  these  newspaper  proprietors  have  consciences.'' 
There  are  two  of  the  biggest  New  York  papers  that 
have  a  great  volume  of  this  corrupting  business,  and 
all  of  them  trifle  with  it  in  some  form.  There  are 
but  a  very  few  papers  in  the  country  that  do  not. 
Just  now  it  is  a  good  self-advertising  policy  to  be 
able  to  proclaim  that  a  newspaper  has  decided  to 
refuse  to  publish  advertising  of  this  nature.  One  of 
the  New  York  papers  alluded  to,  which  is  now  print- 
ing nearly  five  columns  a  day  of  this  objectionable 

[83] 


ring  showsi^-r — ) 
irough  the  >  ^ 
be  in   the  I     ^ 


\ 


Advertising 

matter,  made  an  announcement  some  time  ago  that  it 
had  decided  to  become  virtuous,  and  it  printed  a 
self-advertisement  on  another  page  stating  that  it 
"stands  for  the  right"  and  "safeguards  the  homes  of 
its  readers,"  "protects  them  from  imposition,"  etc. 

There  is  creeping  into  the  advertising  business  a 
conception  of  its  power  that  has  already  begun  to 
modify  its  practice,  and  may  in  time  bring  about  a 
radical  change.  It  is  that  advertising  is  necessarily  a 
matter  of  good  faith.  It  rests  upon  the  word  of  one 
man  given  to  another  man — the  statement  of  the 
advertiser  to  the  reader.  It  is  strictly  a  matter  of 
good  faith,  for  the  simple  and  obvious  reason  that 
goods  offered  through  advertising  cannot  be  seen  and 
examined.  There  is  nothing  by  which  they  may  be 
judged  but  the  word  of  the  advertiser.  It  is  in  the 
nature  of  man  to  play  fair,  and  when  there  is  no  way 
of  verifying  one's  word  it  is  natural  for  the  man  who 
wishes  to  retain  self-respect  to  at  least  approximate 
Jiruth.  The  advertiser  is,  by  reason  of  the  conditions 
of  his  acts,  put  upon  honor.  The  advertising  liar  is 
much  more  despicable  than  the  verbal  prevaricator, 
because  the  person  lied  to  has  no  recourse.  The  ad- 
vertising liar  is  not  a  good  sport.  He  hides  behind 
circumstance.  He  dodges  detection  by  hanging  up  the 
receiver.  He  cannot  be  cross-examined.  His  raw  state- 
ment goes  unchallenged,  and  his  hope  is  that  some 
few  guUibles  will  believe  him. 

Shrewd  advertisers  are  learning  that  the  sneak  in 
advertising  is  not  the  party  that  "pulls  down"  big 
returns.  So  the  advertising  liar  is  gradually  getting 

[84] 


Ethics  in  Advertising 

to  be  discredited,  as  a  business  getter ;  and  advertis- 
ing generally  profits  thereby.  As  the  truth  that  ad- 
vertising is  a  man-to-man  proposition  becomes  better 
understood,  man-to-man  principles  become  more  fa- 
vored. While  advertising  is  the  most  impersonal  of 
all  intercourse,  where  the  personal  element  is  griev- 
ously needed,  it  is  a  strange  thing  that  the  most 
acute  of  personal  principles  seem  destined  to  domi- 
nate it.  "As  man  to  man"  is  a  very  strong  plea  for 
true  and  fair  treatment.  With  most  decent  people  it 
will  secure  for  him  who  uses  it  the  square  deal  he 
wishes.  It  is  coming  to  that  in  advertising. 

The  really  great  constructive  writer  and  creator 
of  advertising  never  even  thinks  of  trying  in  the 
least  degree  to  mislead  his  readers  by  any  of  the 
many  tricks  of  manipulation  of  language  that  were, 
not  long  ago,  the  stock  in  trade  of  the  copy  men.  He 
seeks  for  the  briefest  phrase,  the  simplest  word,  the 
clearest  construction,  the  truest  meaning.  His  attrac- 
tion must  be  other  than  the  attempt  to  paint  the  lily. 
He  knows  that  his  composition  must  not  wear  a  mask. 
He  knows  that  he  must  not  lurk  in  the  shadows  of 
verbose  avoidance.  He  knows  that  he  has  got  to  stand 
squarely  in  front  of  his  readers,  look  them  in  the 
eyes,  and  deliver  the  straightest  tale  he  can  possibly 
construct — if  he  wishes  his  advertising  to  pull  some- 
where near  100  per  cent  of  possibility. 

That  this  policy  pays  best  in  the  long  run,  for  the 
advertiser  who  is  trying  to  sell  worthy  goods,  there  is 
no  longer  a  doubt.  That  its  practice  is  gradually 
spreading  is  evident.  That  it  will  finally  prevail  we 

[85] 


Advertising 

know  welL  When  that  time  comes  there  will  be  an  end 
to  dishonest,  misleading,  fraudulent,  and  undesirable 
advertising.  The  reform  must  come  from  the  adver- 
tisers. The  publications  are  not  constituted  to  at- 
tempt it,  and  the  public,  through  laws  and  enactments 
of  legislative  bodies,  cannot  do  it  any  easier  than  it 
can  prevent  ball-playing  or  chestnutting  on  Sunday. 
The  public  can  help,  by  getting  a  truer  notion  of 
what  advertising  is,  and  why  it  is.  When  the  people 
realize  that  advertising  is  a  purely  business  proposi- 
tion, callous  to  ethics  and  esthetics,  as  such,  they  will 
have  put  themselves  in  a  position  to  do  effective  work 
for  reform. 

/  The  object  of  advertising  is  to  make  money.  When 
its  metliods  are  radically  changed  it  will  be  along 

t    lines  that  promise  more  money  than  it  now  yields. 

'  When  it  becomes  generally  known  that  clean  and 
moral  advertising  pays  better  than  the  other  kind, 
all  advertising  will  become  moral  and  clean.  When  it 
is  conclusively  demonstrated  that  other  forms  of 
advertising  pay  better  than  billboards,  billboards  will 
disappear,  and  the  esthetics  of  the  highways  will  be 
that  much  improved.  If  records  show  that  car  cards 
are  not  efficient  money-makers,  they  will  go  the  way 
of  all  inefficient  advertising,  and  the  street-car  people 
can  decorate  their  cars  with  more  artistic  and  con- 
sistent schemes. 

Despite  all  in  the  history  of  advertising,  and  all  of 
the  degrading  attributes  it  has  developed  and  nour- 
ished in  modem  business,  it  is  manifest  that  advertis- 
ing is  destined  to  be  the  active  agent  of  the  most 

[86] 


Ethics  in  Advertising 

significant  and  far-reaching  reform  in  business  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  There  are  now  plain  indications 
of  what  this  reform  is  to  be,  and  some  hints  as  to 
what  is  to  be  the  method  of  its  approach. 

We  are  now  just  able  to  seriously  consider  the 
union  of  business  and  religion,  business  and  ethics, 
upon  the  same  plane  of  life.  The  hard-headed  business 
man  is  willing  to  listen  to  those  who  see  that  life  is 
life,  whether  it  is  business,  religion,  ethics,  morals, 
art,  science,  or  altruism — all  are  manifestations  of 
the  same  life,  and  all  must  yield  allegiance  to  the 
same  laws,  the  same  rewards,  and  the  same  punish- 
ments. And  underlying  all,  there  is,  and  the  business 
man  sees  that  there  is,  the  same  great  operative  law 
that  must  ultimately  control  all  human  beings  and 
all  human  activities — the  law  laid  down  in  the  Golden 
Rule. 

The  idea  that  goodness  in  business  involves  sacri- I 
fice,  that  the  man  who  operates  his  business  upon  the 
principles  he  preaches  in  Sunday  school  must  expect 
therefore  to  be  a  loser,  has  been  ingrained  in  the-* 
nature  of  men.  It  is  not  easy  to  force  the  imagination 
to  accept  the  great  truth  of  the  Golden  Rule,  and 
apply  it  to  business,  expecting  that  it  will  help  in  the 
game  of  making  money.  Advertising  is  demonstrating 
that  business  and  religion  must  be  promoted  in  the 
same  manner  if  success  is  expected  with  either.  The 
drawing  together  of  these  two  phases  of  life,  which 
have  been  considered  radically  different — antagonis- 
tic— is  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  significant  evo- 
lutions  of  human   nature  any   generation   has  been 

[87] 


Advertising 

privileged  to  witness.  It  is  advertising  that  must  be 
thanked  for  a  large  proportion  of  the  new  order. 


Credo 

for  Advertismg  Men 


I  believe  in  advertising. 
/  believe  in  clean  advertising. 
/  believe  in  profitable  advertising. 
/  believe  that  advertising  has   a  double  func- 
tion: To  benefit  the  advertiser  and  the  people 
advertised  to. 

/  believe  that  if  advertising  does  not  benefit  the 
people  advertised  to  it  cannot  benefit  the  ad- 
vertiser. 

/  believe  that  advertising  cannot  benefit  the 
people  advertised  to  unless  it  is  truthful  and 
clean,  and  employed  only  to  sell  goods  that  are 
genuine  and  off^ered  at  fair  prices. 
/  believe  that  advertising  employed  to  sell 
goods  that  are  not  beneficial,  or  goods  that  are 
beneficial  but  ofi'ered  at  unfair  prices  or  on 
inequitable  conditions,  is  wrong  in  principle  and 
will,  in  the  long  run,  be  unprofitable  to  the 
advertiser. 

Written  by  George  French  for  the  National 
Vigilance   Committee,   A.A.C.  of  A.,   1914. 


[88] 


Ethics  in  Advertising 

We  hear  much  about  "art  for  art's  sake,"  the 
devotion  of  people  to  art  for  the  pure  pleasure  of 
being  thus  devoted,  without  hope  of  personal  pleas- 
ure in  art.  Our  devotion  to  religion  and  ethics  has 
been  about  of  that  nature.  We  have  been  religious, 
on  Sundays.  We  did  not  believe  we  could  be  religious 
all  the  week.  Business  was  business,  and  religion  was 
something  quite  different.  Religion,  with  the  best  of 
us,  was  a  cloak,  not  donned  to  conceal  wickedness, 
but  worn  in  the  form  of  a  cloak  so  that  it  might  the 
easier  be  thrown  off  on  Monday,  and  the  easier 
donned  again  the  following  Sunday.  We  have  had  an 
academic  belief  in  rehgion,  and  we  have  hoped  that 
proper  devotion  to  it  on  Sundays  would  help  us  on 
in  the  world  that  follows  this.  When  it  came  to  busi- 
ness, that  was  a  different  matter. 

Now  that  advertising  has  demonstrated  that  it  is 
more  effective,  makes  more  business,  when  it  is  truth- 
ful and  honest  and  fair  to  the  man  of  the  other  side, 
we  have  begun  to  realize  that  all  business  may  be 
more  profitable  if  it  is  conducted  with  regard  to  the 
rights  of  the  other  party  to  the  deal. 

This  is  not  a  matter  of  the  humanities.  It  is  a 
matter  of  cold  business.  Better  and  more  business  can 
be  done  on  the  platform  of  the  Golden  Rule  than  on 
the  platform  of  Caveat  Emptor.  Advertising  is  grad- 
ually showing  that  this  is  true.  The  shrewdest  men  in 
business  are  gradually  becoming  the  most  zealous 
adherents  to  this  new  doctrine.  Business  is  gradually 
becoming  safe  for  the  man  who  is  not  the  selling 
expert,  but  the  uninformed  buyer.  Men  in  business 

[89] 


Advertising 

are  gradually  realizing  that  one  sale  to  one  man  is 
the  most  uneconomic  method  of  doing  business — that 
one  sale  does  not  make  an  enduring  business.  The  one 
sale  must  be  the  promoter  of  other  sales,  and  to 
secure  this  result  the  one  sale  must  be  beneficial  to 
the  buyer.  The  Golden  Rule  must  be  the  basis  of 
every  sale. 

This  policy,  this  belief,  is  coming  into  business, 
and  coming  rapidly.  It  was  advertising  that  brought 
it  into  business,  as  a  business  element.  The  advertisers 
have  been  obliged  to  consider  the  people  who  buy. 
They  could  not  locate  their  mart  along  the  thronged 
ways  of  travel  and  expect  that  a  proportion  of  the 
passers-by  would  enter  and  trade.  They  had  to  go 
out  and  get  the  people ;  and  they  had  to  go  bearing 
promises.  Advertising  is  selling  seeking  buyers.  The 
advertiser  must  make  some  human  appeal  or  people 
will  not  stop  to  read.  Advertisers  deal  with  the  man 
before  they  can  deal  with  the  customer.  To  deal  with 
the  man  successfully  they  have  to  deal  with  him 
urbanely.  They  have  to  cater  to  the  man. 

Advertisers  first  sought  to  win  people  by  making 
promises.  They  found  that  they  must  also  keep  the 
promises  they  made.  One  promise  might  possibly 
bring  one  purchase,  but  if  the  promise  was  not  ful- 
filled the  buyer  became  an  enemy.  Not  only  did  he  not 
return  to  buy  again,  but  he  induced  others  not  to  buy 
at  all.  Advertising  seeks  to  induce  habitual  buying. 
The  first  purchase  is  very  costly  to  the  advertiser.  It 
is  the  second,  the  third,  the  continued  trade,  that 
brings  the  profit.  If  an  advertiser  can  sell  100  suits 

[90] 


Ethics  in  Advertising    I 

of  clothes  as  the  direct  result  of  one  advertisement, 
he  divides  the  cost  of  the  advertisement  into  100 
parts,  and  reckons  that  each  suit  cost  one  of  those 
parts  to  sell.  He  extinguishes  the  cost  of  the  adver- 
tisement at  once.  But  if  ten  of  the  men  who  bought 
suits  return  to  the  store  for  other  suits,  at  other 
times,  there  is  the  profit  on  them  to  add  to  the  sum 
that  should  properly  be  credited  to  the  advertise- 
ment; and  as  long  as  any  of  those  100  customers, 
attracted  by  the  advertisement,  continue  to  trade  at 
that  store  there  is  profit  coming  to  it  from  that 
advertisement. 

The  profit  does  not  get  credited  to  the  advertise- 
ment, which  is  all  right.  But  the  consequential  fact 
is  that  it  was  the  true  statements  in  the  advertise- 
ment, and  the  fair  dealing  on  the  part  of  the  mer- 
chant, that  attracted  the  continuous  trade  of  the  ten 
men,  and  made  for  the  store  an  endless  chain  of 
profits.  So  the  merchant  argues  that  he  will  continue 
to  print  truthful  advertisements,  and  give  customers 
a  square  deal,  because  he  sees  that  that  is  the  best 
and  least  expensive  promotion  he  can  possibly  have. 
He  soon  becomes  a  stanch  advocate  of  honesty  and 
the  square  deal  in  business,  and  some  fine  day  he  will 
understand  that  this  policy  of  his  is  the  same  as  his 
minister  has,  for  all  the  years  of  his  church-going, 
been  zealously  preaching.  He  sees  that  business  and 
religion  are  the  same,  so  far  as  they  affect  him  in  his 
every-day  life.  He  goes  to  church  to  listen  to  the 
expounding  of  the  principles  of  right  living,  and  he 
goes  to  his  business  the  next  morning  firmly  con- 

[91] 


Advertising 

vinced  tha+  he  can  carry  those  principles  into  all  his 
transactions  during  all  the  secular  week.  He  is  landed 
squarely  upon  the  platform  of  honesty  and  truth, 
because  he  has  discovered  that  those  are  vital  ele- 
ments in  his  business.  He  would  never,  it  may  be, 
have  come  to  that  conclusion  if  his  advertisements  had 
not  converted  him  to  it. 

This  process  has  been  at  work  in  advertising  for  a 
long  time.  There  always  have  been  advertisers  who 
have  been  entirely  honest,  but  they  have  been  con- 
scious that  they  were  not  quite  business-like.  They 
have  felt  that  they  were  sacrificing  something  to 
sentiment — that  their  business  would  probably  have 
been  larger  if  they  had  followed  the  custom  of  em- 
ploying the  lie  in  their  advertising.  The  new  advo- 
cates of  truth  in  advertising  frankly  assume  that  it 
is  the  more  profitable  policy,  and  it  has  thus  been 
carried  into  the  general  practice  of  a  great  many 
concerns,  and  the  people  who  buy  are  the  beneficiaries. 
It  is  a  habit  to  tell  the  truth  in  advertising  and  in 
selling — ^not  a  universal  habit,  but  getting  such  a 
vogue  that  we  know  it  must  become  universal. 

And  it  is  a  beneficent  law  of  our  beings  that  we 
finally  become  converts  to  our  own  policies.  The  man 
who  is  truthful  because  he  thinks  it  policy  to  be 
truthful  benefits  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact; 
and  if  we  confer  benefits  we  are  certain  to  receive 
some  reward.  So  we  get  to  believe  in  the  truth,  and 
to  love  and  practice  it  for  its  own  sake,  through 
having  practiced  it  as  a  business  policy.  Thus  are  the 
advertisers  who  adhere  to  truth  in  their  advertising 

[92] 


Ethics  in  Advertising 

drawn  further  and  further  into  the  practice  of  co- 
ordinate virtues,  immersed  deeper  and  deeper  in  the 
ethical  life. 

Those  who  have  followed  the  development  of  the 
convention  idea  among  the  different  lines  of  trade  and 
industry  have  noted  how  those  gatherings  have 
advanced  from  the  strictly  business  and  social  gath- 
erings they  were,  to  the  great  inspirational  and  sen- 
timental meetings  many  of  them  now  are — devoted  to 
the  propagation  of  the  cardinal  virtues  as  the  most 
effective  trade  tenets.  The  advertisers  have  led  this 
development,  the  annual  conventions  of  their  club  of 
clubs  being  little  different,  in  zeal  and  sentiment, 
from  the  old-fashioned  Methodist  camp-meetings. 
Most  of  the  addresses  have  for  several  years  been 
little  other  than  exhortations  for  truth  and  honesty 
and  the  fair  deal.  Their  week  of  meetings  has  for 
four  or  five  years  been  a  round  of  fervid  promotion 
of  morality  in  business.  They  have  preempted  the 
churches  in  the  cities  where  they  have  met,  and  their 
shrewdest  men  have  gone  into  the  pulpits  and 
preached  the  purest  religion,  as  the  basis  for  their 
business  of  advertising.  An  impressionable  person 
cannot  attend  one  of  these  conventions  without  get- 
ting the  conviction  that  if  the  millennium  is  not  at 
hand  there  is  a  business  revolution  impending  that  is 
not  greatly  different  in  character  and  consequence. 

The  practice  of  advertising  has  led  to  this  investi- 
gation of  its  springs,  and  has  revealed  the  essential 
agreement  between  it  and  morals — between  the  prin- 
ciples of  successful  business  and  successful  religion. 

[93] 


Advertising 

It  has  bridged  the  supposed  chasm  between  business 
and  religion,  and  shown  us  that  there  is  a  common 
base  upon  which  our  lives  rest,  and  from  which  all 
of  their  activities  spring.  It  is  not  easy  to  estimate 
what  this  is  to  mean  in  the  world. 


[94] 


VII 

Social  Effects  of  Advertising 

The  effects  that  flow  from  the  advertisements  as 
they  are  printed  may  be  observed  and  estimated  by 
every  man  for  himself,  since  in  this  primary  sense 
there  is  no  authoritative  consensus  of  effects,  and  it 
is  all  practically  a  matter  of  feeling,  limited  personal 
experience,  loose  generalization,  or  pure  prejudice. 

As  a  factor  in  sociology  advertising  has  never 
been  estimated  or  tested.  There  is  a  well-defined  feel- 
ing among  the  more  thoughtful  and  progressive 
advertising  men  that  it  is  destined  to  work  wonders 
in  the  line  of  practical  social  efforts  and  develop- 
ment. This  feeling  is  not  based  upon  anything  more 
direct  than  the  successes  of  advertising  in  business, 
and  a  meager  series  of  inconclusive  and  tentative 
experiments  in  the  field  of  sociology,  but  there  is  good 
ground  for  the  faith  that  animates  the  prophetic 
souls  of  optimistic  men  in  the  business.  There  is  noth- 
ing inherently  improbable  in  the  suggestion  thaiJ 
many  of  the  multiple  aspirations  of  sociology  and 
religion  may  be  effectively  promoted  through  the 
application  of  tested  advertising  methods — if  these 
methods  can  rightly  be  modified  for  the  purpose. 

Perhaps  it  is  too  much  to  hope  that  people  needing 
regeneration  will  at  once  submit  to  the  demands  of 
the  advertising  methods.  "Do  it  now"  is  a  potent 
command  to  bring  responses  to  the  soap  advertise- 
ment, especially  when  accompanied  with  an  offer  of  a 

[95] 


Advertising 

set  of  dining-room  furniture  or  a  can  of  pickles.  The 
preachers  have  been  dinning  the  "Do  it  now"  com- 
mand into  the  ears  of  unregenerate  people  from  time 
immemorial ;  yet  there  are  many  people  who  have  not 
yet  done  it.  Nor  is  the  disposition  to  respond  to  such 
an  appeal  for  such  a  purpose  as  strong  now  as  for- 
merly. If  people  were  to  be  directly  appealed  to  for 
the  purpose  of  bettering  their  moral  or  social  condi- 
tion it  is  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  it  would  be  worth 
while  advertising. 

For  the  purpose  of  perfecting  the  machinery  of 
sociological  and  ethical  efforts  advertising  may  be 
more  directly  useful  and  effective.  It  has  proved  a 
good  method  for  raising  money,  for  bringing  crowds 
to  meetings,  for  getting  masses  of  people  into  the 
habit  of  wishing  for  some  specific  confirmation,  and 
thereby  putting  their  sub-conscious  minds  at  work  to 
devise  means  for  its  accomplishment,  and  generally 
to  instil  in  the  minds  of  the  public  an  idea,  or  an 
interpretation  of  an  idea,  the  application  of  which 
would  benefit  great  masses  of  people. 

There  are  yet  not  enough  results  to  make  a  general 
conclusion  possible.  There  must  be  more,  and  more 
consequential,  results ;  and  it  is  fair  to  assume  that 
such  evidence  will  soon  be  available.  There  is  no 
doubt,  as  a  theoretical  proposition,  that  advertising 
will  soon  become  one  of  the  more  effective  factors  in 
the  work  of  the  people  who  are  assuming  the  task  of 
making  other  people  better,  more  moral,  more  or- 
derly, and  more  productive  of  good. 

Not  one  of  the  big  movements  for  these  purposes 

[96] 


Social  Effects 

but  would  vastly  benefit  if  more  pains  were  taken  to 
let  all  the  people  know  what  they  are  doing  and  what 
they  wish  to  do.  If  Mrs.  Russell  Sage,  for  example, 
would  appeal  to  the  people,  in  an  effective  and  sys- 
tematic manner,  to  help  in  her  campaign  for  the 
preservation  of  wild  birds  she  would  find  that  there 
would  be  so  much  help  off^ered  that  her  actual  accom- 
plishments would  be  doubled,  or  quadrupled,  without 
extra  effort  or  more  money.  There  are  a  great  many 
people  who  would  be  glad  to  help  on  the  work  of  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation,  or  the  sociological  activities 
of  Mr.  Carnegie,  if  they  were  to  be  told  exactly  what 
these  enterprises  aim  to  accomplish,  and  were  invited 
to  join. 

The  sociological  impact  of  advertising  upon  com- 
munities is  much  greater  in  another  line,  less  known 
and  more  difficult  clearly  to  indicate. 

The  practice  of  advertising  is  breeding  a  new  va- 
riety of  man.  Consider  the  training  it  gives  those 
who  are  immersed  in  it.  Take,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  the  subject  as  concrete  and  vivid  as  possible, 
the  advertising  solicitor  who  is  put  into  a  certain 
field  for  the  purpose  of  getting  all  the  advertising 
for  a  popular  magazine  there  is  in  its  business  poten- 
tiality. Assume  that  he  is  a  bright,  broad-minded, 
conscientious  man,  intent  upon  making  a  better  rec- 
ord for  business  for  his  magazine  than  any  predeces- 
sor has  made,  or  than  any  representative  of  another 
magazine  has  done.  He  has  read  books  upon  adver- 
tising, reads  the  literature  about  business  promotion, 
has  his  ambitions.   He  believes  in  the  people,  likes 

[97] 


Advertising 

them,  and  has  a  sincere  desire  to  promote  their  wel- 
fare. How  does  he  proceed  to  get  the  business  his 
managers  demand  from  his  territory  ?  Does  he  go  out 
and  haunt  the  offices  of  the  advertisers,  singing  the 
praises  of  his  magazine,  and  begging  for  orders? 
He  takes  an  entirely  different  course. 

This  advertising  missionary  proceeded  to  make  a 
careful  survey  of  his  field.  He  found  out  all  about  the 
advertising  accounts  that  are  in  evidence,  and  as 
much  as  possible  about  concerns  that  had  manifested 
leanings  toward  advertising.  He  conceived  that  the 
people  he  would  have  to  deal  with  were  human  beings, 
/^  and  therefore  subject  to  influences  based  upon  that 
fact.  He  found  out  about  the  civic  organizations  in 
his  district,  and  especially  about  the  advertising 
clubs.  He  became  familiar  with  the  churches,  the 
church  clubs,  and  in  the  course  of  his  first  few  months 
of  work  he  tried  to  discover  the  church  connections, 
or  leanings,  of  the  managers  of  advertising  accounts. 
He  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  newspaper  publish- 
ers, and  as  many  of  the  reporters  as  possible.  Being 
a  man  with  talent,  and  talents,  he  began  to  insinuate 
himself  into  gatherings,  and  now  and  then  he  made 
practical  suggestions.  He  joined  civic  clubs,  and  at 
their  meetings  he  made  short  talks,  with  a  punch  to 
them.  Before  long  he  was  in  demand  for  talks  at  func- 
tions, and  always  made  a  good  impression.  He  saw 
his  name  in  the  newspapers,  accompanied  when  pos- 
sible by  the  name  of  his  magazine.  In  these  ways  this 
mythical  man  insinuated  himself  into  the  social  and 
business  activities,  and  his  name  became  well  known. 

[98] 


Social  Effects 

The  public  estimation  of  his  magazine  was  modified, 
for  the  better.  It  became,  in  that  section,  a  better  ad- 
vertising medium,  and  advertisers  were,  insensibly  but 
surely,  disposed  to  think  more  favorably  of  it.  Mr. 
Representative  was  careful  not  to  urge  attention  to 
his  magazine. 

In  his  contact  with  the  men  who  actually  handled 
the  advertising  accounts,  Mr.  Representative  was  as 
diplomatic  and  wise  as  in  his  work  with  groups  and 
organizations.  He  went  over  his  district  at  a  time 
when  there  was  no  advertising  to  be  given  out.  He 
got  close  to  all  the  managers,  and  whenever  possible 
he  met  the  wives  and  children.  He  studied  every  man, 
and  tried  hard  to  do  each  some  substantial  favor.  He 
talked  about  their  work,  and  was  often  able  to  give 
them  valuable  hints.  Being  really  a  high-class  man, 
and  a  thoroughly  good  fellow,  he  soon  had  the  warm 
friendship  of  about  every  man  in  his  territory  who 
had  anything  to  do  with  advertising.  He  did  not 
press  them  for  business.  He  rarely  alluded  to  orders. 
He  did  not  brag  about  his  magazine.  When  the  occa- 
sion was  right  he  had  the  knack  of  giving  some  preg- 
nant fact  about  it  that  went  straight  to  the  mark. 
He  gradually  extended  his  range  to  take  in  some  of 
the  concerns  that  did  not  advertise  at  all,  but  which 
he  thought  ought  to.  He  did  not  bore  them  about  the 
benefits  of  advertising.  He  studied  the  men  and  the 
business,  and  at  some  psychological  moment  he 
planted  his  advertising  seed ;  and  it  was  always  good 
seed,  which  he  put  into  good  ground. 

He  watched  his  field  with  untiring  care,  and  he 

[99] 


-^ 


Advertising 

knew  the  workings  of  all  the  advertisers  in  it;  he 
knew  the  minds  of  the  men  who  handled  the  advertis- 
ing ;  he  knew,  far  in  advance,  plans  for  new  business ; 
and  when  the  time  came  that  some  concern  announced 
that  it  would  see  the  advertising  solicitors  for  the 
purpose  of  making  its  lists  for  the  coming  season,  our 
Mr.  Representative  smiled  quietly  to  himself.  When 
the  procession  of  anxious  solicitors  for  the  other 
periodicals  was  racing  to  the  extreme  of  the  district 
to  try  for  orders,  he  took  down  his  telephone  and 
caught  the  manager  before  any  one  had  seen  him. 

"Hello,  George,"  he  would  say,  "I  hear  you  are 
ready  to  give  out  the  orders  you  told  me  about  last 
month.  I  suppose  I  get  something." 
(Voice  over  the  phone) 

"Yes,  that  will  be  all  right.  Thank  you.  How's  the 
wife  and  the  kiddies .?" 
(Voice  over  the  phone) 
"Well,  isn't  that  fine!" 
(Voice  over  the  phone) 

"I'll  see  you  some  day  next  week.  Thought  I  would 
not  bother  you  to-day.  Good-by." 

This  man's  business  grew  and  grew  in  that  district. 
He  beat  the  other  magazines  in  his  class — and  the 
other  men,  who  wore  out  twice  as  much  shoe-leather 
and  spent  twice  as  much  for  railroad  fares,  wondered 
how  it  happened.  But  getting  the  business  for  his 
magazine  was  not  all  that  Mr.  Representative  did  in 
and  for  that  district.  He  got  a  great  many  people  to 
thinking  about  civic  betterment.  He  made  a  special 
hobby  of  housing,  and  talked  it  on  every  occasion. 
[100] 


Social  Effects 

It  was  a  harmless  topic,  and  about  everybody  agreed 
with  him,  because  there  was  little  prospect  that  any- 
thing concrete  would  be  done.  All  the  politicians  en- 
joyed talking-  about  something  that  would  require  a 
lot  of  city  or  state  money.  Yet  there  were  some  re- 
sults. Some  real  estate  schemes  were  turned  in  the 
direction  of  better  homes  for  the  working  classes,  and 
a  big  apartment  house  was  erected  in  the  congested 
section  of  one  of  the  cities. 

He  soon  got  some  of  the  other  advertising  men 
interested  in  his  propaganda,  and  within  three  years 
of  his  advent  there  was  a  well  organized  bureau  of 
speakers  willing  to  go  anywhere  to  talk  all  kinds  of 
civic  betterment.  One  always  talked  good  advertising. 
Sometimes  they  went  in  squads,  and  did  all  the  talk- 
ing at  some  meeting  of  a  trade  or  civic  organization. 
The  seed  was  sown  everywhere  where  there  was  pre- 
pared or  receptive  ground,  and  there  were  noticeable 
results.  Here  and  there  a  town  would  not  respond, 
but  in  most  towns  there  was  a  decided  increase  in 
interest  in  civic  affairs,  and  some  improvement  in  the 
conditions  of  life.  The  newspapers  got  the  habit  of 
printing  full  reports  of  these  meetings,  often  with 
editorial  comment.  One  of  the  chambers  of  commerce 
made  an  industrial  survey  of  its  field  and  published 
the  results  in  a  handsome  book.  The  whole  region  was 
energized,  some  towns  much  more  than  others,  but 
there  was  scarcely  a  hamlet  into  which  this  man,  or 
some  of  his  coadjutors,  had  not  invaded  with  his  mes- 
sage of  civic  uplift.  Clubs  of  advertising  men,  church 
men,  and  just  interested  citizens,  were  formed  in 
[101] 


Advertising 

many  places,  and  some  of  them  continued  the  study 
of  communal  conditions  year  after  year,  with  results 
that  cannot  be  estimated. 

This  advertising  man  never  existed,  in  just  the 
form  he  is  here  pictured,  but  the  advertising  men  of 
a  region  did  do  as  much,  and  more,  as  has  been  indi- 
\V  cated,  and  their  work  has  done  much  to  raise  the 
,.  standards  of  civic  life  in  those  states.  Those  men 
were  working  for  their  business.  They  hoped  to 
arouse,  among  other  things,  more  interest  in  adver- 
tising. Yet  they  were  entirely  sincere  in  their  public 
work.  They  saw  in  it  opportunity  to  impress  them- 
selves, and  their  publications,  upon  the  imagination 
of  the  people,  and  they  worked  hard  to  do  that.  Their 
underlying  motive  was  more  or  less  selfish,  but  what 
\)f  that.''  They  did  as  much  good  as  though  they  were 
devoted  to  nothing  but  the  uplift  of  the  people; 
probably  more. 

What  this  particular  group  did  in  its  restricted 
field  was  being  done  all  over  the  country,  and  is  being 
done.  Advertising  men  everywhere  are  vitally  inter- 
ested in  the  life  of  the  people,  in  the  conditions  under 
which  the  common  people  are  obliged  to  live,  and  the 
chances  that  are  accorded  them  for  their  advance- 
ment, their  convenience,  and  their  pleasure.  Wher- 
ever there  is  an  advertising  club  there  is  likely  to  be 
spme  sane  and  vigorous  work  being  done  for  civic 
y  betterment.  Probably  half  the  energy  of  all  advertis- 
ing associations  is  expended  in  that  way. 

It  would  be  very  difficult  to  estimate  the  results  of 
this  work,  in  order  that  the  profession  of  advertising 
[102] 


Social  Effects 

might  receive  the  credit  that  is  its  due.  It  is  quite  true 
that  the  time  was  ripe  for  agitation  in  civics,  and 
that  there  were  others  besides  advertising  men  worker 
ing  for  the  same  ends.  But  the  advertising  men  have  \ 
everywhere  been  leaders,  and  in  many  places  the  only  '    ^v 
leaders.  They  have  come  to  the  front  with  plans  for 
definite  action,  and  made  demonstrations  that  havei 
effectively  aroused  many  communities;  made  plans,^ 
preached  the  doctrine  of  civic  unrest,  led  or  followed 
as  was  more  effective,  given  of  their  time  and  money, 
squandered  their  talents,  urged  people  into  the  better 
way  of  looking  upon  cooperative  effort  to  improve 
communal  conditions. 

The  advertising  man  who  is  "worth  his  salt"  has 
got  to  see  things  moving. TThe  attends  church,  there~~^ 
must  be  growth  and  progress  or  he  loses  interest.  He 
sets  wheels  in  motion.  If  he  plays  golf  on  Sunday, 
there  is  certain  to  be  good  golf  and  a  good  golf  club. 
He  is  moving  all  the  time,  and  making  others  move. 
He  is  usually  working  for  betterment.  Back  of  all  his 
business  activity  is  the  motive  that  seeks  to  better 
business,  better  individuals,  better  the  conditions  of 
trade,  better  the  surroundings  of  the  common  man.  \ 

His  sole  claim  for  any  business  rests  upon  his  as-  y  ^ 

sumed  ability  to  make  more  trade  and  make  better      J^-^^jr^ 
trade.  This  underlying  motive  in  advertising  is  its  ^\ 

donation  to  society.  It  is  a  sociological  usufruct  of  i 
great  value  to  society.  No  other  class  of  business  men 
has  the  same  character  of  impact  upon  society.  No 
other  class  has  the  same  motives.  None  has  the  train- 
ing, the  instinct,  or  the  ingrained  tendency  toward 
[103] 


Advertising 

the    consideration    of    society    in    its    cooperative 
capacity. 

It  is  this  demand  of  advertising  upon  the  motor 
energies  of  the  men  immersed  in  it,  and  the  results  of 
this  energetic  constitutional  promotion,  that  suggest 
to  the  investigating  sociologist  that  there  is  a  certain 
potentiality  in  advertising  which  is  absent  from  other 
vocations,  and  which  will  prove  to  be  a  revolutionary 
force  of  no  mean  dimensions.  Advertising,  as  a  pro- 
fessional constituent  of  the  social  body,  aside  from  its 
strict  functions,  has  so  profoundly  influenced  busi- 
ness methods  and  motives  as  to  be  entitled  to  credit 
for  inciting  to  a  true  revolution.  Whatever  may 
truthfully  be  said  of  the  bona  fides  of  the  motives 
that  have  led  the  mass  of  advertising  men  to  join  in 
the  remarkable  campaign  for  the  square  deal  in  busi- 


-^y^  ^ess,  typified  by  the  shibboleth  "Truth  in  Advertis- 
/W%i^      si<^ing,"  it  is  easily  apparent  that  the  sentiment  as  a 

\  ^v^i^. '^practical  working  basis  has  spread  into  almost  all  the 
^K^v   ^.^.y^    grand  divisions  of  business. 

^     jjf^      it  is  now  the  fashion   to  insist   upon   fair   play 


toward  the  consumers,  it  is  known  to  be^  economic  to 
look  after  the  well-being  of  employes ;  whereas,  a  few 
years  ago  there  was  little  heard  about  these  senti- 
mental attributes  of  business  beyond  the  speeches  at 
the  conventions  of  the  advertising  men,  they  now 
posture  as  the  most  popular  and  engaging  features 
of  the  conventions  of  other  lines  of  business.  It  is 
nothing  unusual  to  note  that  a  great  convention  of 
hardware  men,  or  electrical  men,  or  druggists,  or 
printers,  or  editors,  has  given  its  star  assignments  to 
[104] 


Social  Effects 

orators  who  play  up  sociological  and  humanitarian 
topics  with  all  the  fervor  of  their  art,  and  the  audi- 
ences that  flock  to  listen  are  the  largest  and  most 
enthusiastic  of  any  at  the  sessions.  At  most  of  thes^rpK 
conventions  there  are  advertising  men,  and  it  is  often-  v 
that  the  trend  of  the  conventions  may  be  traced  to 
their  work  and  influence.  The  greatest  of  the  experts 
who  arrange  conventions,  manage  them  as  a  circus 
would  be  managed,  are  advertising  men,  accustomed 
to  study  and  gauge  the  public.  Formerly  it  was  topics       t--^ 
dealing   with   manufacture,   distribution,   or   credits        . 
that  were  dealt  with,  with  a  mild  spice  of  fraternal- 
ism  that  was   expected  to  go  no  further  than  the 
grand  banquet  with  which  the  meeting  terminated.     ^ 
Now  many  of  the  subjects  of  addresses  and  discus- 
sions would  be  almost  as  apropos  in  a  gathering  of 
preachers  or  Sunday  school  superintendents. 

Nothing  can  be  more  significant  of  the  drawing 
together  of  business  and  ethics  than  this  disposition 
of  great  class  gatherings  to  tincture  their  delibera- 
tions with  pure  morality,  real  religion,  or  ideal  altru- 
ism. And  nothing  is  more  indicative  of  the  bent  of 
advertising  than  the  fact  that  this  incursion  of  good- 
ness into  business  is  due  to  its  initiative,  though  no 
advertising  man  will  claim  that  all  the  credit  is  due  to 
his  confreres.  While  the  profession  of  advertising 
has  been  the  active  agent  for  the  spread  of  morality 
and  altruism  in  business,  it  is  quite  content  to  note 
the  returns  and  let  who  must  have  the  credit.  ^  '^ 

But  the  real  advertising  man  does  not  restrict  his 
interest  to  social  or  religious  phases  of  communal 
[105] 


Advertising 

life.  He  promotes  them  because  he  must  promote 
whatever  he  is  interested  in.  He  is  interested  in  mor- 
ahtj  and  religion  because  his  psychological  studies 
show  him  how  necessary  those  are  to  the  normal  Jif e. 
He  is  interested  in  all  kinds  of  business  because  the 
promotion  of  business  is  his  passion.  He  sees  all  kinds 
of  business  in  terms  of  promotion.  He  cannot  resist 
giving  the  hint  that  is  needed.  He  analyzes  every 
proposition  he  learns  about,  and  in  his  mind  formu- 
lates a  plan  to  boost  it.  He  knows  conditions,  and  he 
mentally  groups  them  around  enterprises  so  that 
their  activity  may  help  the  enterprises.  He  discovers 
and  applies  opportunity;  often  he  creates  opportu- 
nity. He  dabbles  in  every  industrial  and  mercantile 
enterprise  in  the  town  where  he  lives,  and  benefits 
them  all.  Many  a  suburban  town  or  village  or  bor- 
ough owes  its  life  and  prosperity  to  the  ready  ini- 
tiative and  inextinguishable  energy  of  advertising 
men,  who  have  given  distinction  and  progress  to  their 
home  communities  with  never  a  thought  of  reward. 

The  social  product  of  the  work  of  a  live  advertis- 
ing man,  or  a  well  organized  advertising  agency,  is 
much  greater  than  the  financial  product.  A  good 
agency  may  promote  some  great  business,  like  an 
automobile  factory,  and  spend  a  million  dollars  a 
year  in  advertising  it.  The  agency  would  receive 
something  like  $130,000  for  its  work,  plus  whatever 
might  be  charged  for  extra  service.  If  the  campaign 
was  completely  successful,  a  part  of  a  prosperous 
business,  the  resulting  business  for  the  factory  might 
be  $20  000,000  to  $25,000,000— not,  of  course,  all 

[106] 


Social  Effects 

due  to  advertising,  but  coming  as  the  result  of  a 
general  policy  of  which  advertising  was  an  important 
factor. 

The  social  meaning  of  the  spread  of  this  business 
cannot  be  estimated.  The  advertising  man  who  han- 
dled the  advertising  is  to  be  credited  with  a  large 
proportion  of  it.  The  moment  an  advertisement  is 
printed,  and  begins  to  be  read,  the  advertising  man 
who  made  it  begins  to  influence  a  widening  circle  of 
people,  in  some  manner  that  would  not  otherwise  have 
become  operative.  , 

Some  guessers  think  that  there  are  $600,000,000  <>>*^ 
spent  every  year  in  this  country  for  advertising.  ,^^^, 
Allow  that  75  per  cent  of  this  sum  is  wasted — ex- 
pended with  so  little  wisdom  or  judgment  that  it  has 
brought  no  return — there  remains  $150,000,000  that 
has  been  well  spent.  If  it  was  spent  on  the  basis  of 
5  per  cent  of  gross  receipts  there  would  be  a  return 
of  $3,000,000,000.  If  it  had  all  been  spent  on  a  basis 
of  2  per  cent  for  advertising,  the  gross  business 
resulting  from  the  business,  making  advertising  one 
of  the  sales  elements,  would  be  $7,500,000,000.  Ad- 
vertising is  not  to  be  credited  with  all  this  income,  but 
with  its  legitimate  share.  It  has  something  vital  to  do 
with  the  getting  of  this  great  sum  of  money  through 
advertising  and  other  wise  methods  of  selling.  Just  !<JV^j| /7Xl/v^^ 
what  proportion  of  this  big  sum  it  is  fair  to  credit  to  Q 

advertising  no  man  can  tell. 

Many  of  the  great  producing  advertised  businesses 
owe  their  existence  to  advertising,  and  all  of  their 
income,  whether  derived  for  any  given  year  wholly 

[107] 


{'JlArfV 


Advertising 

from  advertising  or  not,  must  be  credited  to  advertis- 
ing. This  dalliance  with  large  figures  leads  to  the 
thought  that  all  of  the  money  brought  into  trade 
through  advertising  is  the  product  of  the  brains  of 
the  advertising  men,  working  in  a  sphere  of  business 
that  is  new,  unique,  different,  and  absolutely  based 
upon  the  individual  talents  of  the  men  who  are  in  it. 
>/  Advertising  methods  are  capable  of  a  greater  ser- 
vice to  society  than  has  been  indicated.  They  will 
eventually  form  the  basis  for  permanent  policies 
which  will  operate  to  reform  the  processes  of  society 
in  certain  essential  particulars.  Thus  far  the  students 
of  publicity  have  limited  their  hopes  to  its  temporary, 
or  timely,  effects.  It  is  coming  to  be  accepted  that 
advertising  may  be  employed  to  extinguish  church 
debts,  free  a  city  from  corruptionists,  raise  money 
for  semi-public  purposes,  or  in  other  directions  assist 
in  the  accomplishment  of  good  purposes.  It  is  not  yet 
much  thought  of  in  connection  with  fundamental 
plans  for  the  permanent  betterment  of  society,  as  a 
necessity  in  any  plan  that  requires  the  cooperation  of 
the  people.  For  such  purposes  advertising  must  even- 
tually be  reckoned  as  one  of  the  prime  conditions. 

Men's  minds  are  slowly  turning  in  this  direction. 
The  head  of  a  great  philanthropic  organization, 
when  he  sees  that  he  must  have  a  large  sum  of  money, 
and  considers  that  the  usual  methods  for  getting  it 
are  stale  and  have  been  overworked,  thinks  of  adver- 
tising. The  head  of  a  big  "foundation,"  established  to 
turn  people's  minds  into  a  certain  channel,  or  furnish 
them  with  facilities  they  cannot  hope  to  secure  for 
[108] 


Social  Effects 

themselves,  looks  about  for  means  to  apply  the  bene- 
fits in  his  hands,  and  thinks  of  advertising.  The  great 
church  associations,  wishing  to  appeal  to  the  imagi- 
nation of  masses,  think  of  advertising.  Civic  bodies 
know  that  civic  purity  can  be  promoted  better  and 
more  quickly  through  advertising.  Big  financial  deals 
are  easier  handled  with  the  help  of  advertising. 

It  is  not  an  argument  in  rebuttal  to  say  that  these 
great  religious  and  philanthropic  bodies  have  not  yet 
made  great  use  of  advertising.  It  is  enough  that  they 
are  thinking  of  it.  They  will  use  it,  and  soon.  They 
must  use  it.  There  is  no  other  method  for  getting 
into  touch  with  the  people  whose  assistance  they  must 
have.  Advertising  is  a  method  of  influencing  people. 
Preaching  is  also  a  method  for  influencing  people. 
The  preacher  may  be  able  to  move  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  his  hearers  than  the  advertiser  can  of  his 
readers.  The  preacher  preaches  to  a  handful  of  pec-  > 
pie — to  from  50  to  500;  rarely  as  many  as  1,000; 
and  the  man  who  is  privileged  to  address  2,000  or 
more  on  Sundays  is  very  lonesome  in  the  ministry.  A 
page  advertisement  judiciously  inserted  in  the  right/* 
mediums  may  meet  the  eyes  of  five  million  people,  or 
ten  million  if  the  advertiser  wishes — ^more  people  than 
are  addressed  by  all  the  ministers  in  the  country. 

In  the  days  of  the  immediate  future,  when  great 
schemes  in  religion,  sociology,  government,  and  busi- 
ness, are  contemplated,  the  vital  question  will  be. 
How  can  the  minds  of  the  people  be  so  saturated  with 
this  great  motive  as  to  make  them  willing  to  help? 
There  is  but  one  reply :  Make  use  of  the  methods  of 
[109] 


n. 


Advertising 

advertising.  Make  advertising  one  of  the  fundamen- 
tals of  the  project,  whatever  it  is,  and  through  it 
make  a  sane  and  sound  appeal  to  the  people  who 
ought  to  help.  There  is  the  great  goal.  It  can  only  be 
reached  through  the  help  of  many  people.  The  only 
way  to  secure  the  help  of  many  people  is  to  appeal  to 
many  people ;  and  there  is  no  other  sane  and  economic 
method  of  appealing  to  many  people  save  advertising. 


-9. 


[110] 


VIII 

Church  Advertising 

In  the  field  of  religion  advertising  is  destined  to 
play  a  most  important  part. 

Already  it  is  being  employed  in  the  work  of  the 
more  advanced  churches  and  denominational  organi- 
zations. There  is  a  general  sense,  among  the  officials 
of  the  organizations  and  men  who  are  brought  inti- 
mately into  contact  with  the  world,  and  have  to  do 
with  the  business  side  of  the  churches,  that  the  meth- 
ods of  promotion  that  have  been  accepted  by  business 
will  have  to  be  used  by  religious  bodies.  The  dispo- 
sition to  advertise  to  attract  attendance  to  the 
churches  has  grown  very  rapidly  during  the  past  ten 
years,  and  especially  within  the  past  two  years. 
Progressive  and  ambitious  preachers  are  making  use 
of  publicity  methods  to  attract  attendance,  and  there 
is  a  tentative  feeling  developing  that  larger  mutual 
objects  may  be  furthered  by  advertising. 

The  conception  of  the  power  and  function  of  ad- 
vertising is  yet  somewhat  nebulous  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  are  thinking  of  using  it  to  further  the  ends 
of  applied  religion.  They  are  using  it  to  increase 
attendance  at  church  meetings,  and  to  induce  people 
to  give  more  service  to  the  churches.  This  follows  a 
fundamental  error  in  the  work  of  the  religionists,  and 
is  in  the  nature  of  a  reversal  of  the  greatest  potential 
power  of  advertising.  A  disposition  to  engage  in  the 
work  of  the  churches  is  a  by-product  of  religion.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  employ  advertising  exclusively  as  a 

[111] 


Advertising 

plea  for  the  church,  or  as  an  incentive  for  church 
attendance.  It  means  very  httle  to  ask  the  man  who 
is  not  a  church  attendant  to  come  to  church.  That  is 
a  question  which  he  has  settled  for  himself,  and  his 
determination  not  to  attend  church  will  not  yield  to 
moral  urging  to  abandon  it  nor  to  pleas  that  the 
church  needs  him.  He  must  be  shown  what  the  church 
offers  him. 

Advertising  for  the  benefit  of  religion  should  be 
devoted  to  showing  what  the  church  has  to  offer  to 
those  who  are  not  church  people.  In  other  words,  the 
church  must  perfect  its  products  and  adopt  a  good 
sales  poHcy.  When  it  does  so  it  can  employ  adver- 
tising to  sell  its  goods. 

Church  advertising,  so  far  as  it  has  been  developed, 
is  too  much  in  the  nature  of  exhortation.  If  people 
will  not  go  to  the  churches  to  be  preached  to  it  is  not 
likely  that  preaching  in  advertisements  will  attract 
them.  A  sermon  is  a  sermon,  whether  delivered  from 
a  pulpit  in  a  church  or  through  an  advertisement  in 
a  newspaper.  A  collection  of  church  advertisements 
gives  one  an  impression  similar  to  that  received  at  the 
camp-meetings  of  our  youth.  The  day  for  the  argu- 
ment that  people  must  go  to  church  to  be  saved  has 
long  passed.  It  is  not  effective.  It  is  offensive,  because 
it  is  not  believed.  It  is  rarely  used  in  progressive  pul- 
pits. It  should  be  absolutely  barred  from  advertising 
the  object  of  which  is  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
churches. 

Here,  perhaps,  is  the  key  to  warranted  criticism  of 
advertising  now  being  done  in  the  name  of  religion: 
[112] 


Church  Advertising 
It  is  done  for  the  welfare  of  the  churches.  The  ordi- 


nary shrewd  and  sane  person,  who  is  not  a  church 
person,  believes  that  the  church  is  an  expression  of 
the  religious  ideas  of  the  people  who  constitute  it,  and 
not  in  any  sense  an  authoritative  expression  of  relig- 
ion. He  does  not  assent  to  the  proposition  that 
churches  are  essential  to  religion,  and  that  neglect  of 
the  churches  is  tantamount  to  a  rejection  of  religion. 
He  feels  no  sense  of  a  personal,  religious  obligation 
to  support,  or  to  attend,  any  church.  He  is  not,  in  his 
own  conscience,  convicted  of  sin  if  he  altogether 
neglects  the  churches.  The  man  who  plays  golf  on 
Sundays  does  not  feel  that  he  is  therefore  a  sinner. 
This  attitude  toward  the  churches  may  be  right  or 
wrong.  It  exists.  Advertising  is  not  a  court  of  morals. . 
It  is  a  method  of  persuading  people. 

In  its  scheme  for  advertising  for  its  own  benefit  the 
church  must  take  account  of  the  state  of  mind  in 
which  it  finds  the  people  it  wishes  to  win.  It  must  take 
account  of  its  own  condition,  and  the  causes  that  have 
led  to  its  condition.  That  it  has  lost  the  security  of  its 
hold  upon  the  people  is  the  cause  of  its  greatest 
anxiety,  and,  if  it  stops  to  reflect,  it  can  scarcely 
hope  to  win  them  back  to  the  old  implicit  allegiance 
simply  through  urging  them  to  again  attach  them- 
selves to  its  organizations.  It  must  show  its  goods,  and 
show  that  they  are  such  as  will  benefit  and  please  the 
people.  The  church  is  no  longer  the  summum  hortum 
of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  thinking  people.  It  is  only 
one  avenue  for  the  expression  of  their  spirituality, 
and  not  even  an  essential  one.  Ardent  church  people 
[113] 


Advertising 

dispute  this.  But  it  is  not  their  conception  of  the 
church  that  needs  to  be  impressed  upon  those  who  do 
not  attend  church.  It  is  the  conception  of  the  outsider 
that  has  to  be  considered  as  the  foundation  of  the 
advertising  motive. 

To  succeed  in  an  advertising  campaign  in  behalf 
of  the  churches  it  is  necessary  that  the  churches  shall 
project  themselves  into  the  lives  of  those  they  wish  to 
attract.  It  is  of  little  use  for  them  to  exploit  them- 
selves, attempt  to  show  what  they  are  and  what  they 
offer.  They  must  do  more  than  offer  their  goods: 
they  must  shrewdly  promote  their  acceptance — their 
sale,  if  we  may  continue  to  make  use  of  the  termi- 
nology of  trade.  A  church  may  open  its  doors  never 
so  wide,  and  expose  its  interior  with  all  possible  fidel- 
ity— it  has  still  to  go  out  and  get  its  converts  on 
their  own  grounds.  It  cannot  ask  people  to  come  to  it, 
as  a  chief  advertising  motive — it  must  go  to  them. 
When  a  person  is  convinced  that  the  church  has  some- 
thing of  benefit  to  him,  he  will  go  to  it,  but  he  will 
not  go  to  it  simply  because  the  church  wishes  to  have 
him,  or  needs  him  ever  so  badly. 

The  first  essential  for  effective  church  advertising 
is  therefore  that  the  church  neglect  itself  and  its 
necessities  and  devote  its  energies  to  studying  the 
attitude  of  those  it  seeks  to  attract,  and  to  showing 
them  what  it  has  to  offer  them  that  they  need.  That 
the  church  needs  them  should  be  forgotten,  in  the 
initial  stages  of  the  campaign  at  least,  and  only  made 
use  of  in  the  cases  of  individuals  who  acknowledge 
their  need  of  the  church  but  withhold  their  personal 
[114] 


[115] 


Advertising 

cooperation.  Advertising  for  religion  must  proceed 
along  the  lines  that  have  been  proved  profitable  for 
business.  It  is  the  old,  worn,  vague  shibboleths  of 
religion  that  have  weaned  people  from  the  churches. 
It  is  useless  to  repeat  them  in  advertising  and  hope 
for  satisfactory  results. 

When  the  churches,  and  all  the  interests  of  relig- 
ion, get  the  right  viewpoint  for  their  advertising,  the 
advertising  profession  will  assure  them  that  they 
command  a  field  from  the  proper  cultivation  of  which 
may  be  expected  to  flow  results  that  will  revolutionize 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  world. 

Spiritual  aspiration  is  a  human  attribute  that  is 
assuming  greater  importance  and  significance  with 
each  generation.  Our  sons  and  daughters  accept  into 
their  lives  certain  fundamental  propositions  relating 
them  to  a  higher  spiritual  life  than  we  dared  hope 
for,  quite  irrespective  of  their  church  affiliations,  or 
non-aflSliations.  They  are  more  susceptible  to  spiritual 
suggestion  than  we  were,  notwithstanding  that  we 
were  under  the  domination  of  a  strict  church-going 
regime.  We  were  anxious  about  manifestations ;  they 
do  not  give  those  manifestations  a  thought.  We 
thought  of  the  inner  spirit  with  awe,  and  some  doubt ; 
they  are  as  confident  of  its  control  as  of  the  rising  of 
the  sun,  and  as  unconscious  of  doubt  regarding  it. 
They  are  ready  for  suggestions  that  involve  expres- 
sion and  service.  They  do  not  care  for  form,  for 
tradition,  for  assumption,  for  allegations  regarding 
religion  that  make  of  it  something  extraneous  to 
their  ordered  and  ascertained  lives. 
[116] 


Church  Advertising 

This  present  generation  of  people  who  are  earnest 
in  their  present  attitude  toward  Hfe  constitutes  the 
best  material  for  the  churches  they  have  ever  been 
able  to  contemplate.  Much  of  it  is  now  cool  in  its 
church  interest.  A  too  large  proportion  is  hostile. 
These  people  will  not  respond  to  mere  requests  to  at- 
tend church,  or  to  assist  churches  as  now  organized. 
Yet  they  are  as  ductile  as  clay  in  the  hands  of  the 
potter.  They  yearn  for  opportunities  for  work  along 
lines  leading  manifestly  to  the  betterment  of  the  race, 
the  improvement  of  the  times.  This  is,  they  believe, 
salvation.  They  are  ready  to  join  any  organization 
that  promises  them  work,  scope,  room  for  growth, 
enlarged  vision,  uplift,  satisfaction  for  that  passion 
for  helping  others  that  is  in  every  ardent  heart. 

To  such  people  the  churches  have  only  to  say, 
"Come  and  work  in  this  field  with  us,"  and  they  will 
come ;  only  the  field  must  be  specified,  and  the  methods 
of  work  clearly  outlined.  These  points  assured,  the 
modern  enthusiasts  who  have  kept  away  from  the 
churches  because  the  churches  were  too  cold  will  not 
care  whether  it  is  the  church  or  another  organization 
that  beckons  them.  The  times  are  ripe  for  the  great- 
est revival  of  religion  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  will 
not  come  through  the  old  church  channels,  and  so 
long  as  the  invitation  is  to  use  those  old  channels  the 
great  revival  will  hesitate.  Nothing  is  needed  now  but 
that  the  churches  see  the  vision,  adapt  themselves,  and 
inaugurate  the  greatest  advertising  campaign  ever 
conceived. 

This  translation  of  the  dream  of  Armageddon  into 
[117] 


Advertising 

terms  of  persuasion  for  the  people,  the  leading  them 
into  the  better  life,  the  making  of  religion  the  popu- 
lar element  of  sane  life  that  it  was  meant  to  be,  is  the 
great  dream  of  advertising  men  who  realize  the 
power  of  their  profession  and  the  needs  of  mankind. 
It  is  a  problem  easier  of  solution  than  those  dealt 
with  every  day.  It  involves  nothing  in  the  way  of 
payment  or  sacrifice.  It  is,  on  the  part  of  the  people, 
all  receiving,  and  receiving  something  they  had  been 
wishing  for,  hungering  for,  hoping  for.  That  this 
great  thing  is  not  pressed  upon  the  people  with  all 
the  vigor  employed  in  the  great  commercial  advertis- 
ing campaigns  is  due  only  to  the  constitutional  slow- 
ness of  mankind  to  reach  out  and  take  benefits  that 
are  always  being  offered;  and  to  the  clinging  of  the 
churches  to  the  past. 

Suppose  the  series  of  advertisements  the  size  of  a 
standard  magazine  page  were  to  be  made,  twelve  for 
the  monthlies,  fifty-two  for  the  weeklies,  and  365  for 
the  dailies,  stating  the  benefits  of  religion  in  terms 
of  those  people  who  care  nothing  for  the  churches, 
and  printed  in  leading  publications  for  a  year.  What 
would  be  the  effect?  Suppose  that  the  effect  of  these 
advertisements  was  carefully  watched  by  a  compe- 
tent corps  of  experts,  and  every  necessary  follow-up 
was  employed.  Suppose  that  all  of  the  preachers  were 
to  agree  to  work  along  the  same  lines  for  a  year — 
not  preach  from  the  same  texts  nor  in  the  same  vein, 
but  devote  themselves  for  the  year  to  the  task  of 
bringing  religion  into  the  lives  of  the  people  through 
the  natural  channels,  along  lines  of  the  least  resist- 
[118] 


Church  Advertising 

ance  and  without  reference  to  theology.  Suppose  that 
this  entire  campaign  were  to  be  planned  in  coopera- 
tion with  a  board  of  the  best  advertising  men,  the 
best  sociologists,  the  best  psychologists,  the  best 
preachers,  the  best  laymen — a  board  of  100  men, 
working  through  sub-committees,  and  giving  a  month 
to  program-making. 

This  would  be  a  campaign  for  religion  such  as  the 
world  has  never  seen,  and  the  results  would  be  such 
as  would  set  religion  further  in  advance  than  the 
usual  methods  would  put  it  in  a  generation.  Would  it 
not  be  worth  while?  What  would  it  cost?  Not  one  per 
cent  of  the  returns.  It  would  be  the  cheapest,  most 
economical  method  possible  to  imagine.  It  would 
tremendously  reduce  crime  and  immorality.  It  is  per- 
fectly feasible.  There  is  money  enough  available.  It 
would  not  cost  so  very  much,  compared  with  other 
great  social  movements.  It  would  be  the  sanest  and 
most  business-like  thing  the  churches  could  do.  It 
would  make  America  the  greatest  nation  in  the  world. 
It  would  promote  religion  all  over  the  world.  The  peo- 
ple are  ready.  Where  is  the  great  leader  who  will 
marshal  the  churches  and  the  laymen?  There  are  in 
the  ranks  of  the  advertising  men  a  dozen,  any  of 
whom  could  be  the  generalissimo.  There  are  among 
the  men  of  great  wealth  plenty  who  can,  and  would, 
finance  it.  All  of  the  periodicals  would  help.  Many 
of  them  would  give  the  space  for  the  advertising.  The 
newspapers  would  give  the  plan  publicity. 

Is  it  a  dream?  If  it  is,  it  is  such  a  dream  as  adver- 
tising men  have.  They  are  the  true  evangels  of  the 

[119] 


Advertising 

times.  Let  the  churches  turn  to  them.  They  can  make 
religion  popular.  The  churches  have  not  succeeded  in 
doing  it,  and  unless  they  change  their  point  of  view 
they  will  not.  That  they  are  turning  to  the  advertis- 
ing men  is  a  very  hopeful  sign.  That  they  are  think- 
ing of  advertising  as  one  of  their  ordinary  functions 
is  not  in  itself  so  hopeful.  This  conception  of  the 
power  of  advertising  is  a  part  of  the  lives  of  adver- 
tising men.  It  is  practically  impossible  that  others 
share  it.  Others  do  not  know  what  advertising  is  or 
what  it  can  do.  The  supreme  aspiration  of  the  genu- 
ine advertising  man  is  that  some  day  he  may  have  an 
opportunity  to  apply  advertising  to  some  great 
social  or  religious  object,  and  religious  promoters  are 
making  the  mistake  of  not  turning  their  advertising 
plans  over  to  the  zealous  advertising  men.  The  fault 
with  current  religious  advertising  is  that  there  is  too 
much  religion  in  it,  and  not  enough  advertising  skill. 
There  has  been  growing  up,  during  the  past  few 
years,  a  body  of  evidence  as  to  the  efficiency  of  adver- 
tising for  religious  promotion  that  is  getting  to  be 
very  convincing  and  conclusive,  notwithstanding  the 
handicap  of  lack  of  professional  advertising  knowl- 
edge and  skill.  It  has  always  had  a  strong  human- 
interest  appeal,  and  wherever  it  has  been  done  with 
anything  like  continuity  and  persistence  it  has  shown 
excellent  results.  It  has  not  yet  got  a  very  firm  hold 
on  the  imagination  of  the  church  people.  Most  of 
them  look  upon  it  as  undignified  or  insincere.  It  is 
considered  to  be  unethical,  but  for  what  reason  it  is 
impossible  to  imagine.  Dentists  and  doctors  do  not 
[120] 


Church  Advertising 

consider  it  professional  to  advertise,  and  lawyers  pro- 
fess to  be  of  the  same  mind.  Ministers  are  ranked  as 
in  the  pale  of  professionalism,  and  they  are  therefore 
expected  to  agree  with  the  professional  traditions. 

But  there  are  ministers  who  believe  in  advertising, 
and  try  to  practice  it.  Some  of  their  efforts  are  cred- 
itable, but  if  the  existing  church  advertising  were  to 
be  compared  with  advertising  by  commercial  interests 
it  would  sink  to  third  rate,  or  below.  There  are  not- 
able exceptions.  There  is  a  Methodist  minister  in  New 
York  who  not  only  advertises  his  church,  but  has 
written  an  interesting  book  about  "Church  Pub- 
licity." It  is  a  very  notable  book,  from  the  fact  of  its 
existence  and  its  origin.  It  is  a  unique  book.  It  does 
not  deal  with  advertising  per  se.  The  author.  Rev. 
Christian  F.  Reisner,  sent  out  to  a  list  of  ministers  an 
elaborate  questionaire,  covering  every  aspect  of 
church  publicity,  and  he  has  built  this  book  around 
the  letters  he  received,  using  his  questions  to  the 
ministers  as  chapter  topics,  interlarding  the  quota- 
tions with  pithy  comments,  and  closing  each  chapter 
with  a  statement  of  his  own  conclusions.  The  book  is 
sprinkled  with  reproduced  advertisements,  and  there 
are  many  quotations  from  other  books  on  advertis- 
ing, and  letters  from  advertising  men.  It  is  a  case 
book,  full  of  detail  and  reports.  The  author  does 
not  attempt  to  relate  advertising  to  religion  except 
as  a  means  for  attracting  people  to  the  churches,  nor 
does  he  interest  himself  with  the  philosophy  of  adver- 
tising. He  accepts  it  as  a  more  or  less  organized 
method  of  hustling  for  more  attendance  in  the 
[121] 


Advertising 

churches,  and  justifies  its  use  by  the  results  it  has  in 
that  line  shown. 

There  have  been  several  other  good  books  written 
about  church  advertising,  the  most  notable  being 
by  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle,  "Principles  of  Successful 
Church  Advertising."  Mr.  Stelzle  does  not  show  that 
the  principles  of  advertising  that  are  to  be  employed 
to  promote  a  church  are  different  from  those  employed 
to  promote  a  dry-goods  store,  as  of  course  they  are 
not ;  but  he  does  strike  the  right  note  in  defining  what 
should  be  the  attitude  of  the  church  toward  its  pro- 
motion. "The  point  is,"  he  remarks,  "to  make  men 
see  that  the  church,  as  it  is  organized,  governed,  and 
attempting  to  help  men  toward  God  and  to  fulfil  their 
duty  toward  their  fellows,  is  the  best  organization 
with  which  they  may  become  affiliated."  This  admir- 
able sentiment  is  followed  by  the  remark  that  "the 
church  should  advertise  because  men  must  be  reached 
where  they  are."  This  is  more  in  the  nature  of  a  text- 
book, after  the  proposition  that  churches  should  ad- 
vertise had  been  demonstrated,  and  its  suggestions 
are  along  the  lines  of  good  advertising  practice. 
/  While  it  is  to  be  said  that  the  churches  are  none  too 
forward  in  their  acceptance  of  advertising  as  the 
most  efficient  aid  they  can  invoke,  it  is  evident  that 
advertising  will  be  accepted  as  the  greatest  force  for 
the  promotion  of  religion. 


/ 


[l^a] 


IX 

Efficient  Advertising 

Is  advertising,  as  it  is  now  practiced,  efficient? 

Advertising  as  it  is  now  practiced  is  not  efficient, 
if  the  standards  of  efficiency  in  other  phases  of  busi- 
ness are  to  be  used  in  judging  it. 

Some  advertising  is  extremely  efficient.  Every- 
body knows  that  advertising  has  created  great  busi- 
nesses. It  is  no  romance  to  say  that  there  are  many 
big  fortunes,  many  very  big  businesses,  that  owe  their 
being  to  advertising.  The  tale  of  the  Down  East 
Yankee  who  risked  his  last  dollars  to  pay  for  a  half- 
inch  advertisement  in  several  periodicals,  offering  to 
do  something  about  which  he  knew  practically  noth- 
ing, and  to  sell  something  that  was  not  then  in  exist- 
ence, and  his  subsequent  great  business  and  big 
fortune,  is  familiar — and  it  is  typically  true.  The 
tale  of  the  man  in  the  West  who  had  changed  his  last 
five-dollar  bill  when  in  sheer  desperation  he  wrote  a 
little  advertisement  offering  to  teach  young  men 
a  certain  business  process,  and  thus  started  one  of 
the  most  successful  and  money-making  of  those  re- 
cent instruction  schools,  is  also  typical.  A  patent- 
medicine  man  died  recently,  leaving  a  fortune  of 
more  than  five  millions,  all  made  through  advertising, 
and  advertising  that  never  did  anybody  the  smallest 
bit  of  good.  Instances  of  money  made  by  advertising 
may  be  multiplied,  beyond  the  limits  of  a  five-foot 
shelf  of  books,  and  at  the  end  of  the  list  we  would 
[123] 


Advertising 

have  sadly  to  confess  that  a  list  of  the  failures  due 
to  unwise  and  ignorant  advertising  would  fill  volumes 
enough  for  a  twenty-foot  shelf.  Every  well-informed 
advertising  man  can  relate  instances  of  great  adver- 
tising successes,  and  when  he  shall  have  emptied  him- 
self of  his  facts,  he  will  admit,  with  reluctance  and 
chagrin,  that  for  every  success  he  is  able  to  cite  he 
can  recall  three  or  four  failures.  It  is  loosely  said 
that  as  much  as  75  per  cent  of  advertising  current 
in  any  year  disappears  from  the  mediums  by  the  next 
year.  This  percentage  is,  it  is  fondly  believed,  grow- 
ing less ;  so  that  when  these  hazy  approximations  are 
being  read  the  percentage  of  disappearances  for  that 
year  may  have  declined  to  70,  or  even  to  65,  per  cent. 

Why  is  it  that  advertising — that  business  element 
which  is  believed  to  rest  upon  scientific  principles 
easily  known  and  readily  put  into  practice — is  so 
inefficient.'*  It  is  a  fair  question,  and  ought  to  be  an- 
swered clearly  and  categorically.  The  trouble  is  that 
the  answer  is  so  simple  that  it  is  hard  to  believe  it  is 
all  the  answer  that  is  required.  More  advertisers 
insist  upon  advertising  wrongly  than  are  willing  to 
advertise  rightly.  That  is  all  there  is  to  the  answer, 
only  it  is  one  of  those  answers  that  do  not  answer. 

Advertising  in  the  modern  sense  is  new.  There  are 
few  professional  advertising  men.  There  were  none 
at  all  until  very  recently.  Those  who  are  now  more 
or  less  entitled  to  the  distinction  are  not  all-round 
advertising  professors.  They  are  narrow,  and,  while 
equipped  to  originate  a  successful  campaign  in  one 
direction,  have  limitations  that  assure  failure  in 
[124] 


Efficient  Advertising 

others.  They  all  make  one  or  more  successes,  and 
more  than  one  or  more  failures.  Each  of  their  failures 
contributes  to  that  large  percentage  in  the  field. 
But  if  the  professional  advertising  men  made  all  the 
failures  the  percentage  of  success  in  the  general  field 
would  be  very  much  larger.  The  lamentable  failures 
in  advertising  are  made  by  the  men  who  have  to  find 
the  money  to  finance  the  failures.  The  idea  prevail- 
ing among  many  of  the  smaller  advertisers  is  that 
the  writing  and  placing  of  the  advertisements  is  workj 
that  any  clerk,  or  even  the  proprietor,  can  do  when 
there  is  nothing  else  to  be  done,  like  washing  thei 
office  windows  or  drawing  checks.  Who  should  knowi; 
so  much  about  the  right  advertising  for  a  concern  li 
as  the  man  who  owns  it,  built  it  up,  and  manages  |' 
it?  This  man  says:  VCan  an  outsider  come  in  here 
and  tell  me  about  ra^  business.^"  Then  he  takes  a 
pencil  and  writes  an  advertisement,  which  has  nine 
chances  to  one  against  it  being  anything  but  a  flat 
failure.  The  man  writes  to  himself. 

Advertising  has  been  unsuccessful  also  because  it 
has  so  often  been  employed  to  promote  impossible 
propositions,  and  propositions  that  were  not  formu- 
lated to  win.  There  was  once  a  manufacturing  con- 
cern that  had  prepared  for  the  market  an  entirely 
new  thing  in  the  fabric  line,  and  had  also  prepared 
an  advertising  campaign,  with  the  assistance  of  an 
agent.  The  agent  called  upon  the  manager  of  the 
leading  trade  paper  in  that  line,  and  proposed  to 
make  a  large  contract  with  him.  This  man  knew  the 
art  of  advertising,  and  insisted  upon  knowing  all 
[125] 


Advertising 

about  the  new  material,  its  manufacture,  and  the 
plans  for  selling.  After  he  had  got  all  this  informa- 
tion he  declined  to  publish  the  advertising.  The 
agent  and  the  manufacturer  pleaded  with  him  in 
vain.  Pressed  to  give  reasons,  he  told  the  manufac- 
turer that  the  fabric  was  not  adapted  for  the  mar- 
ket, and  that  his  plans  for  selling  and  advertising 
were  not  well  considered ;  and  he  took  the  trouble  to 
explain.  The  manufacturer  saw  that  the  publisher 
was  right,  and  the  campaign  was  abandoned.  The 
fabric  was  radically  changed,  the  manufacturing 
plans  were  modified  in  accordance  with  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  publisher,  and  the  selling  and  adver- 
tising plans  were  remodeled.  Then  the  publisher  ac- 
cepted the  advertising,  and  the  fabric  became  very 
popular  and  profitable.  The  publisher  claimed  none 
of  the  credit,  took  no  fee,  turned  the  advertising 
campaign  over  to  the  agent  who  first  appeared  in 
the  defective  plans,  and  got  no  more  advertising 
for  his  paper  than  he  would  have  had  if  he  had  not 
taken  the  pains  to  nip  the  foredoomed  scheme  in  the 
bud.  This  sort  of  practical  service  is  not  offered  by 
all  periodicals,  and  will  not  be  accepted  by  many 
advertisers.  This  man  happened  to  be  an  authority 
whose  opinion  could  not  be  disputed,  and  the  period- 
ical happened  to  be  the  one  that  was  absolutely 
needful. 

The  reason  for  the  failure  of  much  of  the  adver- 
itising  is  that  it  is  so  crudely  done.  When  there  are 
jadvertising  experts,  in  the  true  sense,  and  when  ad- 
vertisers realize  that  advertising  is  not  the  same  as 
[126] 


Efficient  Advertising 

making  goods,  nor  the  same  as  selling  them,  but  is 
absolutely  the  work  of  the  man  who  knows  adver- 
tising, there  will  be  less  inefficient  advertising.  There  • 
will  always  be  much  advertising  that  will  produce  | 
nothing  but  failure,  because  it  is  so  often  employed  j 
to  promote  gambles.     It  will  be  necessary  to  imagine 
that   advertising  will   always   be  done   for   genuine  , 
enterprises,  as  well  as  that  it  will  be  expertly  done, 
to  even  conceive  that  it  will  be  more  than  from  30 
to  40  per  cent  efficient.  If  advertising  as  a  whole  were 
now  40  per  cent  efficient,  advertising  men  would  con- 
sider that  the  millennium  was  at  hand. 

The  mediums   contribute  their  full  share  to  the 
inefficiency   of   advertising.    So   many   of   them   are 
eager  to  sell  space  that  they  do  not  discriminate. 
When   publishers   all  act  in   the  common-sense  and 
helpful  manner   of  the  one  here  quoted  there  will 
be  much  less   ineffective  advertising.  When   all  the  ' 
advertising  used  is  well  conceived  and  properly  writ-  i; 
ten  and  displayed,  there  will  be  less  ineffective  ad-M 
vertising.  When  merchants  and  manufacturers  cease 
trying  to  sell  unmarketable  goods  through  advertis- 
ing, there  will  be  less  ineffective  advertising.  When 
all  the  elements  that  go  to  the  making  of  effective 
advertising  are  applied  to  all  the  advertising,  then 
there  will  be  a  record  for  advertising  that  will  show 
near  to  100  per  cent  efficiency. 

There  is  now  probably  about  as  great  a  percent- 
age  of   industrial    failure   brought    about   through 
other  commercial  lesions  as  through  bad  advertising, 
but  these  failures  have  been  happening  always  and 
[127] 


Advertising 

do  not  cause  remark.  Nevertheless,  advertising  should 
not  be  inclined  to  plead  this  sort  of  a  demurrer,  and 
is  not  so  inclined.  It  is  now  quite  possible  for  the 
advertiser  who  is  as  shrewd  and  liberal  in  his  pub- 
licity as  in  his  manufacturing  and  merchandizing  to 
predicate  the  results  of  his  advertising.  It  is  as  cer- 
tain as  the  sale  of  goods  that  have  not  yet  been 
manufactured,  or  as  any  of  the  prime  elements  of 
business  that  have  to  be  reckoned  with.  Given  the 
goods,  the  people  to  be  converted  into  customers,  and 
the  skilful  advertising  man,  there  is  little  danger  that 
the  campaign  will  take  its  place  among  the  failures. 
It  is  one  of  the  surest  things  in  business. 

There  is  a  certain  style,  if  it  may  be  so  called, 
that  is  almost  always  successful.  It  is  where  the 
business  and  the  man  who  does  the  advertising  are 
so  closely  related  as  to  give  a  basis  for  thorough 
knowledge,  and  where  the  man  who  knows  the  busi- 
ness is  permitted  to  do  the  advertising.  There  are 
some  scores,  or  possibly  hundreds,  of  concerns  that 
have  always  done  successful  advertising,  and  whose 
advertising  has  been  done  by  the  same  men  for  years. 
These  advertising  men  are  not  what  one  would  call 
advertising  experts.  They  might  not  succeed  if  called 
upon  to  change  their  venue.  But  they  know  the  busi- 
nesses that  they  have  promoted  so  well  that  their  work 
has  become  an  integral  part  of  those  enterprises. 
They  are  more  than  advertising  managers.  They 
usually  have  something  vital  to  do  with  the  selling 
department,  and  not  infrequently  they  are  officials 
of  their  corporations  with  influence  in  the  manufac- 

[128] 


Efficient  Advertising 

turing  and  general  business  departments.  They  have 
studied  their  problems  for  many  years.  They  have 
traveled  among  the  customers  of  their  houses.  They 
have  met  the  retailers  that  handle  their  goods.  They 
personally  know  the  traveling  salesmen.  They  work 
with  the  sales  managers.  The  business  of  these  con- 
cerns has  been  worked  into  the  blood  of  these  adver- 
tising men.  They  have  learned  to  know  how  to  appeal 
to  the  people  who  use  their  goods.  They  know  how 
to  select  mediums,  and  what  forms  of  advertising 
are  adapted  to  their  needs.  They  go  about  their  work 
with  the  sure  touch  of  complete  knowledge.  They 
are  advertising  managers  who  advertise.  There  is  no 
guesswork  with  them.  They  do  not  know  what  in- 
efficient advertising  is.  They  are  not  dominated  by 
officials  who  do  not  know  but  are  bound  to  rule.  They 
know  how  to  combat  their  superiors,  as  well  as  how 
to  bring  into  line  a  serviceable  publisher.  They  have 
their  fingers  upon  the  pulse  of  the  readers  of  all  the 
periodicals  they  use,  and  they  know  just  what  prod- 
uct to  offer  through  this  or  that  magazine  or  news- 
paper, and  just  how  to  offer  it.  Such  ingrained  ex- 
pertness  cannot  be  attained  by  the  advertising  man 
who  has  to  deal  with  many  problems,  or  who  has  to 
deal  with  one  problem  as  men  over  him  dictate.  It 
is,  perhaps,  a  condition  of  the  greater  efficiency  of 
advertising  that  it  shall  be  dealt  with  by  men  who 
spend  their  lives  specializing  with  one  advertiser. 
Perhaps  advertising  is  that  sort  of  a  profession  that 
demands  of  each  practitioner  that  he  specialize,  that 
his  work  be  so  intensive  as  to  leave  nothing  in  his 
[129] 


Advertising 

restricted  field  to  be  referred  to  general  principles,  or 
described  in  general  terms. 

The  efficiency  of  advertising  depends,  it  seems, 
upon  the  bona  fides  of  the  advertised  offer,  upon  the 
bona  fides  of  the  concern  making  the  offer,  the  qual- 
ity of  the  thing  offered,  the  skill  and  freedom  of  the 
man  who  actually  does  the  advertising.  It  depends 
upon  the  human  elements  in  the  problem — the  human 
need  for  the  goods,  the  human  spirit  of  the  offer 
of  the  goods,  the  qualities  of  the  person  transmitting 
the  offer  to  the  potential  buyers.  It  is  a  matter  of 
man  to  man. 

These  elements  of  advertising  efficiency  are  more 
or  less  under  the  control  of  the  advertiser.  He  can, 
if  he  knows  how  and  is  skilful,  adjust  them  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  problem  he  has  to  deal  with.  He 
can  adjust  his  goods  to  the  needs  of  the  people  who 
are  within  the  scope  of  his  distribution  scheme  and 
the  capacity  of  his  production  facilities.  He  can  be 
honest  in  intention  and  practice,  and  he  can  make 
honest  goods  and  advertise  them  truthfully.  But  he 
still  has  the  great  problem  of  his  appeal  to  the  people 
he  must  interest  to  deal  with — his  selection  of  his 
advertising  mediums.  This  is  one  of  the  more  per- 
plexing of  all  the  problems  connected  with  the  effi- 
ciency of  advertising.  It  causes  the  most  study,  much 
of  the  study  being  almost  fruitless  because  there  is 
such  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  their  publications  by 
publishers.  For  the  most  part  advertisers  have  to 
rely  upon  their  own  judgment  and  investigations  to 
furnish  them  data  relative  to  the  efficiency  of  adver- 
[130] 


Efficient  Advertising 

tising  mediums,  and  even  with  respect  to  the  raw  facts 
upon  which  some  estimate  of  efficiency  can  be  based. 
With  full  knowledge  of  the  mediums,  the  problem 
is  still  very  difficult. 

Sales  and  advertising  managers  have  attempted  to 
arrive  at  some  approximate  estimate  of  the  efficiency 
of  their  advertising,  but  have  always  to  begin  with 
assumptions,  and  usually  to  end  with  results  based 
almost  as  much  upon  guesswork  as  upon  demonstrated 
facts.  One  assumes,  for  example,  that  25  per  cent  of 
the  readers  of  a  certain  periodical  may  be  interested 
in  goods  to  be  advertised,  because  he  thinks  that  not 
more  than  that  proportion  of  the  general  class  of 
people  he  understands  read  that  periodical  could 
economically  use  the  goods.  Of  this  25  per  cent  he 
discovered,  through  his  system  of  keying,  that  only 
10  per  cent  seemed  actually  to  be  interested  in  his 
advertising.  This  meant  that  only  2.5  per  cent  of 
the  readers  of  the  periodical  were  available  to  him 
as  "prospects."  His  actual  sales  inquiries  (not  sales) 
were  but  10  per  cent  of  this  2.5  per  cent,  or  one- 
fourth  of  1  per  cent  of  the  circulation  of  the  period- 
ical. Suppose  that  the  periodical  has  200,000  circu- 
lation, there  are  but  500  of  its  readers  who  wUl  buy 
the  goods  of  this  advertiser.  How  much  money  will 
these  500  sales  bring  in,  and  how  much  profit,  and 
what  relation  is  there  between  this  profit  and  the 
cost  of  the  advertising.? 

Such  an  analysis  of  the  cost  of  advertising  is  not 
satisfactory,  nor  conclusive.  It  leaves  some  of  the 
vital  elements  out  of  the  account,  and  the  result  is 
[131] 


Advertising 

not  all  to  be  charged  to  advertising.  The  efficiency 
of  advertising  is  seriously  affected  by  some  elements 
that  are  usually  reckoned  to  be  quite  outside  of 
advertising.  The  advertising  and  the  selling  are  firm- 
ly linked  together.  Trade  conditions  vitally  influence 
the  efficiency  of  advertising.  The  distribution  plans 
affect  the  result  of  advertising.  The  character  of  the 
goods  fixes  the  first  element  in  assessing  efficiency. 
Social  economic  movements,  and  faddism,  in  respect 
to  some  of  the  departments  of  practical  living,  may 
make  certain  lines  of  advertising  efficient  or  almost 
useless,  for  the  time  being.  The  agitation  for  pure 
food  and  drugs,  the  coming  of  the  "hobble"  skirts 
for  women,  the  fashion  for  big  hats,  and  like  social 
and  economic  phenomena,  affect  advertising.  No 
manufacturer  of  women's  wear  would  hope  to  make 
advertising  of  petticoats  profitable  while  women  wear 
skirts  like  the  leg  of  a  man's  trousers. 

Bringing  the  element  of  good  faith  into  advertis- 
ing is  working  a  momentous  change.  People  are  get- 
ting wise  in  this  business,  as  in  others,  and  are  begin- 
ning to  apply  sophisticated  reasoning  to  their  re- 
sponse to  advertising.  Any  estimate  of  the  efficiency 
of  advertising  must  take  account  of  the  swing  from 
dishonest  to  honest  advertising  that  is  going  on.  It 
is  a  most  salutary  movement,  but  it  disturbs  equilib- 
rium, and  makes  it  difficult  to  predicate. 

There  is  an  ideal  conception  of  advertising  effi- 
ciency. If  the  product  advertised  is  a  staple  which 
is  used  in  every  family,  or  by  every  individual,  like 
soap,  and  the  advertiser  offers  a  variety  of  quahties 
[132] 


EflScient  Advertising 

so  that  he  can  claim  that  he  can  economically  make 
all  the  soap  for  all  the  people  who  read  the  period- 
ical in  which  he  advertises,  he  can  claim  that  his 
goods  have  100  per  cent  of  advertising  potentiality. 
If  his  advertising  copy  was  to  be  so  written  that 
it  appealed  with  equal  force  to  every  reader  of  the 
periodical  who  looked  at  the  advertising  section,  and 
had  sufficient  appeal  to  move  all  who  read  it  to  buy, 
he  might  assume  that  his  advertising  was  100  per 
cent  efficient.  But  even  so  he  would  not  know  what 
proportion  of  the  readers  were  interested  in  the  ad- 
vertising pages,  and  it  would  be  exceedingly  difficult 
to  find  out.  Yet,  given  these  ideal  advertising  condi- 
tions, and  equal  conditions  applying  to  production, 
selling,  distribution,  and  general  business  policy, 
there  would  result  ideal  advertising  efficiency — what- 
ever that  might  mean  for  different  propositions. 

If  such  an  advertising  proposition  were  possible, 
there  would  be  an  element  to  deal  with  which  would 
make  all  the  other  elements  uncertain  in  their  opera- 
tion toward  that  ideal  100  per  cent  efficiency.  The 
advertisee  may  be  all  that  he  should  be  in  the  way  of 
interest  and  potential  need,  yet  he  may  not  be  a 
buyer;  and  why  he  may  not  buy  is  an  element  of 
mystery  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  solve.  Habit 
has  made  him  a  customer  of  the  local  stores,  and 
they  do  not  choose  to  stock  the  article  advertised. 
He  may  for  the  time  being  be  supplied  with  another 
brand,  and,  despite  his  conviction  that  the  advertised 
article  is  better,  he  will  use  the  stock  on  hand — and 
very  likely  renew  it  when  it  is  exhausted.  The  flow 
[133] 


Advertising 

of  habit  cannot  at  once  be  checked  by  an  advertise- 
ment, or  other  means.  A  man  continues  to  do  that 
which  he  has  been  doing,  and  is  unable  to  explain  why 
he  does  it.  If  all  the  people  who  are  intellectually 
convinced  by  advertising  bought  advertised  goods  ad- 
vertising would  be  100  per  cent  more  efficient  than 
it  now  is.  The  great  problem  is  to  induce  people  to 
do  that  which  they  know  they  ought  to  do,  or  would 
profit  through  doing.  The  reason  that  no  advertise- 
ment that  is  theoretically  100  per  cent  efficient  is 
ever  half,  or  a  quarter,  as  efficient  in  actual  practice 
is  that  people  do  not  do  as  they  ought.  Of  course, 
one  should  yield  to  the  demands  of  the  advertisements, 
if  convinced  that  it  would  be  well  to  do  so.  People 
should  do  that,  in  all  relations  of  life,  which  they 
know  is  best  for  them  to  do.  They  do  not,  and  because 
they  do  not  there  is  the  wide  gap  between  theoretical 
and  actual  advertising  efficiency. 

Another  difficulty  is  that  advertising  conditions  are 
not  well  known,  and  that  there  is  no  real  effort  afoot 
to  make  them  well  known ;  they  have  not  been  subject 
to  careful  and  scientific  analysis,  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  publisher  or  of  the  advertiser.  The  mediums  do 
not,  as  a  general  proposition,  know  what  it  is  they 
are  offering  when  they  invite  advertisers  to  use  their 
pages.  They  think  of  the  problem  in  terms  of  figures 
on  their  ledgers.  They  know  a  little  about  their 
readers,  but  not  enough  to  enable  them  to  advise 
advertisers  as  to  the  degree  of  efficiency  they  can 
assure  them.  They  assert  that  they  print  and  distrib- 
ute so  many  copies,  but  they  do  not  know  how  many 

[184] 


Efficient  Advertising 

of  those  people  actually  read  their  periodicals,  or 
in  what  spirit  they  read  them.  Least  of  all  do  they 
know  how  many  of  their  subscribers  read  the  adver- 
tisements they  print,  or  what  would  induce  them  to 
read  more.  They  do  not  know  how  their  readers  look 
upon  the  advertising  printed,  in  a  general  sense. 
They  have  never  taken  measures  to  find  out.  They 
are,  most  of  them,  afraid  to  do  so,  being  conscious 
of  a  certain  dumb  hostility  to  the  advertisements 
among  their  readers,  so  far  as  anything  in  that  line 
has  ever  come  to  them.  They  have  never  thought 
much  about  making  their  periodicals  readable,  think- 
ing of  the  reading  matter  only,  and  they  are  quite 
helpless  when  it  comes  to  making  their  readers  turn 
to  the  advertising  for  profit  or  entertainment.  De- 
pending upon  the  advertising  for  their  revenue,  pub- 
lishers do  very  little  to  make  the  advertising  inter- 
esting to  their  readers,  and  so  profitable  to  their  ad- 
vertisers. 

There  lies  here,  in  cooperation  between  the  pub- 
lishers and  the  advertisers,  a  great  field  now  meas- 
urably unworked,  the  proper  cultivation  of  which  may 
be  made  to  render  advertising  much  more  efficient, 
and  all  to  the  pleasure  and  benefit  of  the  readers 
also.  It  is  for  the  publisher  to  see  that  the  right  ap- 
peal is  made  to  his  readers,  and  it  is  for  him  to  know 
his  readers  well  enough  to  show  him  what  that  appeal 
must  be.  It  is  for  the  publisher  to  gather  the  audience 
for  the  advertiser,  and  also  to  study  the  psychology 
of  the  audience  for  the  advertiser. 

[185] 


The  Advertising  Man 

So  we  come  through  these  main  avenues  of  ap- 
proach to  the  vital  element  in  advertising — that 
which  makes  of  it  one  of  the  more  exalted  profes- 
sions of  this  twentieth  century,  and  justifies  all  the 
attention  that  is  being  given  it. 

How  does  this  profession,  that  puts  its  finger  upon 
the  motor  nerve  of  man,  affect  the  men  who  are  en- 
gaged in  it,  and  how  is  it  to  affect  thc^  general  ques- 
tion of  the  relations  of  men  to  one  another? 

Advertising  rests  upon  the  good  faith  of  one  man, 
exercised  to  influence  the  lives  and  happiness  of  other 
men.  Advertising  is  selling  "unsight  unseen."  The 
advertiser  makes  certain  statements  in  a  manner  and 
fashion  to  secure  the  faith  and  credence  of  other 
men  who  read  the  advertisements.  There  is  no  op- 
portunity for  the  readers  to  test  the  quality  of  the 
statements  made  by  the  advertiser.  There  is  some- 
times a  weak  provision  that  goods  may  be  returned, 
or  some  other  attempt  to  persuade  the  reader  that 
his  interests  are  considered.  They  are  not  otherwise 
protected  than  through  the  word  of  the  advertiser. 
If  he  tells  the  truth — if  he  is  inclined  to  give  a 
square  deal — the  buyer  need  not  beware.  If  he  is 
not  thus  inclined,  if  he  considers  that  all  the  readers 
who  rely  upon  his  statements  are  therefore  fair  game, 
there  is  little  hope  for  the  advertiser  who  is  inclined 
to  keep  his  faith  in  his  kind. 
[136] 


The  Advertising  Man 

In  most  of  the  business  of  life  the  buyer  has  a 
chance  to  exercise  his  judgment,  and  if  he  makes 
mistakes  there  is  not  the  same  quality  of  turpitude 
to  be  charged  to  the  seller  as  to  the  advertiser  who 
lies  in  his  advertisements.  The  persons  who  read  ad- 
vertising have  no  defense  against  the  arguments  there 
made  use  of.  This  is  the  challenge  to  the  advertiser, 
and  it  is  this  that  separates  advertising  morality 
from  the  ordinary  variety  of  business  efforts.  There 
is  a  certain  stimulus  in  the  doctrine  of  Caveat  Emp- 
tor, as  applied  to  transactions  between  persons,  be- 
cause the  buyer  is  then  able  to  see  the  thing  offered 
and  appraise  the  personality  of  the  seller.  If  he  gets 
defrauded  he  is,  to  a  degree,  responsible. 

We  are  inclined  to  believe  everything  we  read,  in 
advertising,  in  news,  and  other  literature.  We  have 
much  to  say  about  the  unreliability  of  newspapers, 
yet  we  believe,  without  questioning,  more  than  99  per 
cent  of  all  we  read  in  them.  That  item  we  doubt  is 
something  that  we  happen  to  know  about,  or  have 
an  opinion  about  which  is  different  from  the  interpre- 
tation the  newspaper  has  given  it.  Our  faith  is  auto- 
matic. It  is  one  of  the  subtleties  of  our  mental  being 
that  we  believe  whatever  we  are  told.  If  we  disbelieve 
we  must  make  a  distinct  effort  to  formulate  the  doubt, 
and  we  have  to  exercise  the  will  to  get  it  recognized 
by  our  minds.  We  are  constituted,  by  that  Power 
which  has  created  the  earth  and  man  to  possess  it, 
to  accept  what  is  told  us.  Our  minds  are  made  to 
work  that  way.  The  motor  principle,  as  it  is  called, 
works  affirmatively. 

[137]' 


Advertising 

We  are  mental  sponges,  and  absorb  whatever  is 
poured  out  upon  us,  by  advertisers  and  others.  If 
it  were  in  our  human  nature  to  observe  and  analyze 
the  allegations  of  the  advertisers,  and  balance  one 
probability  against  another  in  coming  to  a  conclusion 
about  that  statement,  we  could  protect  ourselves.  We 
cannot  do  that.  All  of  our  mental  pores  are  open  to 
receive  affirmatively  whatever  comes  to  us.  Doubt  is 
unnatural;  not  only  unnatural  in  its  essence,  but 
practically  impossible  with  respect  to  a  large  per- 
centage of  the  suggestions  that  come  to  us.  We  never 
doubt  without  having  a  good  reason  for  the  doubt. 
It  is  the  natural  method  of  the  mind  to  say  yes  to 
every  request — to  do  whatever  asked  to  do.  The  whole 
world  moves  upon  this  principle — the  principle  of 
doing  whatever  seems  right  to  do,  or  whatever  some 
one  asks  us  to  do.  When  we  begin  to  cultivate  doubt, 
when  we  refuse  to  respond,  when  we  debate  and  hesi- 
tate, we  begin  to  retrograde.  The  man  who  is  a  ha- 
bitual doubter  speedily  segregates  himself,  and  his 
fellows  pass  him  by. 

The  shrewd  advertiser  knows  this  motor  principle 
of  the  mind,  and  counts  upon  it  to  help  him  sell  his 
goods.  He  knows  that  if  he  can  make  the  right  appeal, 
and  can  get  his  appeal  within  the  conscious  range  of 
the  reader's  vision,  he  can  sell  the  things  he  has  for 
sale.  He  knows  that  people  are  almost  helpless  in  his 
hands,  if  he  can  get  them  to  realize  that  he  is  speak- 
ing to  them.  The  question  of  the  efficacy  of  advertis- 
ing is  simpler  than  it  is  understood  to  be.  It  hinges 
upon  getting  the  attention  of  people  in  a  pleasing 
[138] 


The  Advertising  Man 

manner.  The  attention  power  possessed  by  people  who 
read  any  one  periodical  is  usually  far  too  limited  to 
take  note  of  all  the  advertising  offered.  There  is  only 
a  certain  proportion  of  readers  who  will  submit  them- 
selves to  the  temptation  of  the  advertisements,  and 
but  a  very  small  proportion  who  make  a  careful  sur- 
vey of  the  advertising  pages  of  their  favorite  maga- 
zines or  their  morning  and  evening  newspapers.  The 
normal  buying  power  of  the  readers  of  any  large 
periodical  is  many  hundred  times  greater  than  the 
most  phenomenal  returns  any  advertising  ever  gets. 
The  total  returns  received  by  any  advertiser  are  to 
be  reckoned  as  one  to  1,000  of  that  which  he  might 
receive  if  all  the  readers  of  his  mediums  who  should 
fairly  be  interested  in  his  proposition  were  in  fact 
interested  in  it. 

Running  through  all  these  advertising  methods 
and  manifestations  is  the  golden  thread  of  personal 
responsibility — the  man-to-man  basic  idea — accepted 
as  a  rule  of  conduct  by  more  and  more  advertising 
men  each  year.  When  their  peculiar  responsibility  be- 
comes quite  clear  to  advertising  men  it  takes  a  firmer 
hold  of  their  consciousness  than  do  many  of  the  more 
obvious  and  usual  bases  of  conduct.  He  is  very  much 
of  a  brute  who  will  take  advantage  of  the  trust  of  a 
child.  The  trust  that  a  reader  of  advertisements  must 
have  is  like  the  trust  of  the  child,  who  does  not  know 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  deceit  in  the  world.  The 
readers  of  advertisements  know  that  there  is  deceit 
in  some  of  them,  but  the  conditions  of  their  being 
make  it  impossible  to  know  that  there  is  deceit  in  any 
[139] 


Advertising 

particular  advertisement.  So  it  has  come  about  that 
the  really  big  advertising  man  is  getting  to  be  a 
really  honest  man,  and  so  it  is  that  we  are  bound  to 
indorse  all  we  hear  about  truth  in  advertising,  in  the 
hope  that  the  men  who  have  suddenly  become  so  vo- 
ciferous mean  all  they  say. 
\J  The  new  move  for  honest  advertising  is  having  a 

marked  effect  upon  business.  It  is  rapidly  sweeping 
chicane  and  subterfuge  off  their  feet.  It  is  demon- 
strating that  truth  is  the  best  selling  maxim ;  which 
has  a  certain  sordid  suggestion,  but  it  is  surely  bet- 
ter to  be  fair  even  if  that  is  the  road  leading  to  the 
greatest  possible  profits. 

In  this  one  great  branch  of  business  the  men  have 
come  to  a  new  and  different  plane  of  associational 
life.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  any  advertising  man 
would  think  of  treating  another  advertising  man  with 
frankness  and  openness.  Now  they  treat  each  other 
with  the  utmost  openness.  Nothing  in  the  way  of 
trade  secrets  is  reserved.  Nothing  in  the  way  of  fel- 
lowship is  omitted.  Brotherhood,  in  its  truest  sense, 
has  entered  into  this  business.  It  is  in  evidence  in  all 
lines,  though  it  is  the  proud  belief  of  advertising 
men  that  they  have  led  the  way,  promoted  the  move- 
ment and  put  it  first  into  their  own  practices. 

The  student  of  sociological  conditions  has  noted 
that  in  all  branches  of  business  the  personal  equation 
is  coming  to  be  more  esteemed ;  that  there  is  brother- 
hood among  the  men  engaged  in  identical  pursuits. 
This  drawing  together  of  the  social  man  and  the 
business  man  is  one  of  the  significant  signs  of  the 
[140] 


The  Advertising  Man 

times.  Exactly  what  it  signifies  we  are  not  yet  able 
to  estimate.  That  it  is  to  be  a  wonderful  emollient  for 
the  civilization  we  hope  for  is  evident. 

Perhaps  it  is  too  much  to  claim  that  this  movement 
became  first  manifest  through  the  remarkable  club 
movement  among  advertising  men,  but  it  is  certain 
that  they  were  in  the  forefront  of  the  wave  of 
brotherhood  in  business.  It  is  only  about  five  years 
since  the  formation  of  clubs  of  advertising  men  be- 
came notable,  and  now  there  are  not  less  than  12,000 
men  enrolled  in  some  300  clubs  throughout  the  United 
States.  These  clubs  have  a  national  organization 
called  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World, 
the  annual  conventions  of  which  have  become  the 
greatest  inspirational  meetings  held  anywhere  in  the 
world,  considering  the  character  of  the  motives  that 
are  back  of  the  whole  movement — strictly  business 
motives.  These  conventions  have,  for  four  years, 
given  themselves,  with  true  camp-meeting  abandon, 
to  the  propagation  of  the  simple  fundamental  prop- 
osition that  advertising  should  not  lend  itself  to 
schemes  that  tend  to  degrade  or  defraud.  These  ad- 
vertising men  have  discovered  that  it  is  more  profita- 
ble, in  the  long  run,  to  treat  people  fairly,  and  it 
seems  that  this  discovery  appeals  to  them  as  so  new 
and  novel  as  to  make  them  evangels  of  commerce,  / 
apostles  of  the  newer  dispensation  of  business,  j 
prophets  of  that  ideal  altruism  we  all  hope  will  some 
day  be  as  eff^ectual  in  business  as  in  social  or  religious 
life. 

In  whatever  wise  we  look  at  advertising  we  see  that 
[141] 


Advertising 

it,  so  far  as  it  is  done  in  the  light  of  its  newer  ideals, 
tends  to  lift  and  clarify  social  conditions  and  make 
the  traffic  between  individuals  more  frank  and 
brotherly.  If  we  are  satisfied  that  it  does  these  things, 
and  that  it  is  also  the  great  business  force  its  stu- 
dents and  advocates  claim,  it  seems  that  advertising 
is  one  of  our  twentieth  century  causes  for  thanks- 
giving. That  it  is,  in  its  essence,  a  challenge  to  good 
faith,  and  that  it  compels  a  self-respecting  man  to 
respect  his  neighbor  as  himself,  is  the  fundamental 
human  base  of  advertising  that  lifts  it  above  ordinary 
business  and  differentiates  it  from  ordinary  social 
motives.  That  the  essential  attributes  of  the  best 
advertising  involve  almost  all  of  the  virtues  specified 
by  the  Decalogue,  bearing  upon  the  intercourse  of 
people,  while  at  the  same  time  absorbing  those  at- 
tributes of  successful  business  that  are  most  essen- 
tial, implies  that  it  may  be  considered  somewhat  in 
the  light  of  a  connecting  link  to  ultimately  draw 
them  much  closer  together.  Its  influence  in  this  direc- 
tion is  already  discoverable  in  the  minds  of  its  more 
enthusiastic  students  and  apologists ;  and  they  are 
able  to  make  out  a  very  good  case. 

In  no  other  business  is  there  such  incentive  to  do 
wrong  and  such  opportunity  for  doing  good.  The 
advertising  man  is  obliged  to  depend  upon  his  ability 
to  move  people.  He  is  subject  to  the  temptation  to 
exert  his  influence  for  his  exclusive  benefit.  To  turn 
the  back  upon  -an  opportunity  for  personal  benefit 
is  one  of  the  hardest  things  in  the  world  to  do.  The 
advertising  man  is  always  having  to  decide  between 
[142] 


The  Advertising  Man 

the  other  man  and  himself.  His  responsibiHty  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  the  general  responsibility 
we  all  share  for  all  others.  There  is  always  for  him 
in  view  some  dollars  that  he  feels  sure  he  can  get,  if 
he  is  willing  to  forget  that  he  is  his  brother's  keeper. 
It  is  because  so  many  do  forget  this  that  advertising 
has  such  a  clouded  reputation.  When  there  are  dollars 
in  sight,  within  reach,  it  is  only  the  true  man  who 
turns  his  back  on  them  because  of  his  regard  for  the 
man  who  is  ready,  and  perhaps  anxious,  to  deliver 
them  up. 

The  difference  between  advertisers  is  that  one  class 
are  content  to  use  advertising  as  one  method  of  pro- 
moting legitimate  business,  and  the  other  class  use  it 
for  getting  money.  The  Louisiana  lottery  was  a 
method  of  getting  money,  and  it  employed  many  of 
the  usages  and  forms  of  fairness  and  honesty,  but 
it  was  a  piratical  enterprise  and  in  time  public  senti- 
ment made  it  impossible.  Its  managers  did  not  conceal 
from  its  dupes  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  them  would 
lose  their  money.  What  it  emphasized  was  that  a  few 
of  them  would  get  some  of  the  money  that  the  many 
lost.  Fraudulent  advertising  is  like  the  Louisiana 
lottery — the  advertisers  can  only  gain  through  the 
loss  of  those  who  respond  to  the  advertising.  It  is 
surer  than  burglary,  though  no  more  reputable  or 
justifiable.  There  are  delicate  and  subtle  moral 
nuances  in  advertising.  The  advertisement  of  a 
strictly  legitimate  article,  offered  by  a  reputable 
concern,  may  be  made  as  immoral  and  deceptive  as 
the  advertisements  of  the  Louisiana  lottery. 

[143] 


Advertising 

There  is  a  very  vital  difference  between  the  adver- 
tising lure  and  the  advertising  bait.  The  lure  we 
must  use,  the  bait  we  should  not  use.  That  advertising 
man  who  will  consciously  use  the  bait  is  immoral,  no 
matter  who  are  his  principals  or  what  is  the  article 
he  is  advertising. 

Ready  money  is  so  to  be  desired.  Trade  is  so  neces- 
sary. There  is  such  a  resolve  in  business  to  secure 
quick  results  that  the  advertising  man  feels  that  he 
must  yield  to  it.  He  must  often  yield  to  it  or  sacrifice 
himself  and  those  dependent  upon  him.  Success  means 
money  in  hand  to  so  many  business  men  that  the  ad- 
vertising man  considers  he  must  play  for  it.  Every 
good  advertising  man  knows  that  the  best  advertising 
works  for  the  future,  tends  to  implant  in  people's 
minds  the  idea  that  will  blossom  into  trade  in  its  own 
good  time,  and  will  continue  to  bring  forth  the  fruit 
of  profit.  But  they  also  know  that  there  must  be  im- 
mediate results.  They  do  not  have  a  choice.  They  have 
got  to  work  for  the  order  of  to-morrow.  Therefore 
are  they  tempted  to  make  use  of  the  illegitimate  as- 
sertion, the  warped  phrase,  the  exaggerated  descrip- 
tion, the  deceptive  tendency. 

It  may  be  pleaded  that  something  must  be  allowed 
for  attractive  power,  and  something  left  for  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  buyer.  Not  in  legitimate  advertising, 
because  there  is  no  opportunity  for  reaction  in  ad- 
vertising. The  party  of  the  other  side  cannot  take 
part  in  the  arrangement  of  the  deal  that  is  being 
framed  up  against  him.  The  reader  of  the  advertise- 
ment must  answer  its  appeal  with  a  yes  or  a  no.  It  is 
[144] 


The  Advertising  Man 

not  possible  for  him  to  consider,  to  get  more  informa- 
tion, to  ask  questions,  to  demand  tests  and  proofs. 
The  advertisement  is  inarticulate  along  those  lines. 
It  cannot  discuss — it  can  only  assert.  If  therefore 
the  advertiser  does  other  than  to  present  his  case  in 
impeccable,  unvarnished,  and  naked  truth  he  is  guilty 
of  deceit — the  same  quality  of  deceit  employed  by 
the  sneak  who  steals  pennies  from  the  blind  man's 
cup.  The  smudge  on  character  because  of  deceptive 
advertising  is  blacker  than  that  bestowed  by  other 
varieties  of  larceny,  because  the  victim  cannot  resist. 

There  are  many  advertising  men  who  do  not  yield 
to  the  temptation  to  deceive  in  their  work.  Most  of 
these  are  poor.  They  are  big  men,  nevertheless,  and 
their  ranks  are  filling  up.  While  the  deceptive  adver- 
tising man  is  a  particularly  despicable  person,  the 
straight  and  honest  one  is  an  especially  fine  specimen 
of  commercial  manhood. 

In  other  ways  beside  honesty  advertising  men  are 
remarkable,  because  of  the  business  they  are  in.  They 
are  broad-minded,  because  that  type  of  man  attracts 
and  can  influence  his  fellows.  They  come  to  be  very 
accomplished,  and  to  be  wells  of  erudition  and  knowl- 
edge. What  the  trained  and  seasoned  advertising  man 
does  not  come  to  know,  and  know  about,  is  so  obscure 
as  to  be  of  little  interest.  If  he  stays  in  one  line,  he 
becomes  an  accomplished  expert  in  that  line.  If  he  is 
a  general  practitioner,  he  becomes  an  expert  in  many 
lines  and  cultivates  a  capacity  for  absorbing  knowl- 
edge. He  is  prone  to  be  a  student  of  psychology, 
which  leads  into  the  pleasantest  paths  of  science  and 

[146] 


Advertising 

life.  He  must  become  an  expert  sociologist,  which 
puts  him  in  touch  with  the  quality  and  character  of 
people  and  makes  him  a  brother  of  humanity.  These 
two  branches  of  humanity  he  must  study  and  under- 
stand. His  most  notable  accomplishment  must  be  his 
touch  upon  his  fellows,  leading  to  much  that  is 
broadening,  deepening,  uplifting  and  delightful, 
apart  from  professional  utility. 

The  real  advertising  man  is  oil  upon  the  troubled 
waters  of  business  and  social  life.  He  learns  how  to 
impress  himself  upon  his  associates  without  risking 
reaction.  He  trains  his  spirit  to  give  and  never  think 
of  a  return.  He  gets  to  know  the  secret  springs  that 
Influence,  and  how  to  touch  them  with  a  delicacy  that 
evokes  no  harsh  responses.  The  fact  that  he  comes 
to  look  upon  men  as  Instruments  upon  which  he  can 
play  frees  him  from  the  most  prolific  cause  of  dis- 
cords In  life,  that  sense  that  there  must  come  from 
every  associate  an  agreeable  reaction.  He  expects 
nothing  In  the  way  of  reaction  further  than  the  effect 
he  wishes  to  produce.  He  Impresses  himself  upon  the 
people  consciously.  He  plays  for  certain  responses. 
He  never  launches  himself  without  knowing  where  he 
should  land.  If  he  misses  his  anticipated  moorings 
he  Is  philosophical,  and  remembers  that  he  is  at  fault. 
He  does  not  get  sore.  He  does  not  demand  that  all 
follow  him.  He  observes  the  direction  of  the  current, 
and  either  floats  along  with  It  or  seeks  to  turn  it  by 
gentle  and  skilfully  applied  methods. 

The  real  advertising  man  does  not  impose  himself 
upon  life.  He  observes  it.  He  puts  himself  deliberately 
[146] 


The  Advertising  Man 

into  the  current.  He  does  not  believe  that  all  men 
should  be  as  he,  nor  as  his  ideal.  He  assays  them  as 
they  are,  or  as  they  appear  to  be.  He  does  not  hope 
to  reform  the  world,  but  to  sway  and  influence  a  few. 
He  studies  people  to  discover  what  are  their  springs 
of  action,  what  it  is  that  moves  them  most  surely. 
He  likes  nearly  all  kinds  of  people,  because  he  looks 
beyond  what  they  do  to  discover  why  they  do  it.  He 
tries  to  balance  motives  and  acts.  He  estimates  human 
nature.  He  woos  the  philosophic  spirit,  because  he 
knows  that  worry  on  account  of  failures  makes  other 
failures  inevitable.  He  believes  in  goodness  because  it 
is  power,  and  finally  because  it  is  goodness. 

The  real  advertising  man  is  not  a  paragon  of 
virtue.  He  is  what  he  is,  because  he  has  learned  to 
regard  men  and  their  doings  as  resulting  from  certain 
laws  and  tendencies.  He  does  not  charge  all  persons 
with  their  acts.  People  to  him  are  volatile  impulses 
and  motives.  The  individuals  are  behind  all  mani- 
festations, not  to  be  held  responsible  for  much  that 
is  rated  as  personal  acts.  He  thinks  in  terms  of 
humanity  rather  than  in  terms  of  humans.  A  man  to 
him  is  an  atom  of  humanity.  He  thinks  in  terms  of 
masses  of  men,  and  relates  individuals  to  the  averages 
of  the  masses. 

In  the  world  of  sociology  and  religion  the  different 
professors  think  in  the  terms  of  their  particular  call- 
ings. The  preacher  thinks  in  terms  of  religion,  the 
psychologist  in  terms  of  the  automatic  mind,  the 
moralist  in  terms  of  the  Decalogue.  The  advertising 
man  is  all  of  these,  and  more.  He  sees  religion  as  one 
[147] 


Advertising 

of  the  elements  of  living,  ethics  as  another,  and  the 
automatic  actions  of  the  mind  as  the  machinery  for 
the  assimilation  of  all  the  motives  and  happenings  of 
life.  He  realizes  that  all  sciences  and  moralities  and 
religions  are  elements  in  life,  but  that  none  of  them 
is  life.  He  must  consider  the  man  as  he  lives,  because 
if  he  does  otherwise  he  will  not  be  able  to  get  at  the 
man  and  induce  him  to  act. 

So  the  real  advertising  man,  who  realizes  his  voca- 
tion, is  bound  to  be  an  individual  with  qualities  that 
are  distinctive,  that  are  different,  that  are  sometimes 
remarkable  and  remarkably  effective  and  enjoyable. 
He  is  bred  to  accomplish  things ;  so  in  whatever  rela- 
tion of  life  he  applies  his  energies  he  is  apt  to  be 
doing  things,  rather  than  dreaming  and  talking  about 
doing  them.  In  this  function  the  advertising  man  is  a 
great  asset  to  society.  He  is  always  a  social  being, 
and  he  is  always  working  for  some  social  object.  He 
is  an  uneasy  element  wherever  he  is.  Whatever  meas- 
ure of  fame  or  degree  of  notoriety  other  able  citizens 
attain,  the  advertising  men  in  any  community  are 
always  well  known,  and  well  liked. 

There  are  many  men  in  the  advertising  business 
who  are  not  advertising  men.  They  go  through  the 
motions  during  the  day,  and  then  subside  into  their 
natural  state,  whatever  that  may  be.  They  are  mis- 
placed. Some  accident  made  them  shadows  of  adver- 
tising men,  and,  as  shadows  are  as  substantial  as  they 
are,  they  remain  in  the  business,  though  not  of  it. 
They  may  be  burglars  or  vestrymen,  gardeners  or 
hen-raisers,  bookmen  or  machinists — they  are  not  real 
[148] 


The  Advertising  Man 

advertising  men.  They  are  admirable  husbands  and 
citizens,  but  they  are  not  among  those  who  look  at  life 
as  those  we  are  thinking  about,  and  they  are  not 
esteemed  as  consequential  in  the  business. 

It  is  one  of  the  present  advantages  of  the  adver- 
tising profession  that  there  are  not  in  it  any  pro- 
fessors, in  the  usual  sense — men  bred  up  for  the 
work.  The  men  who  are  now  vital  in  advertising  are 
vital  because  they  are  naturally  fitted  for  it,  and 
have  not  been  molded  and  shaped  for  their  niches. 
This  condition  will  be  changed.  There  are  many 
movements  on  foot  to  train  youth  to  become  adver- 
tising men — to  take  the  willing  fellow  and  teach  him 
how  it  is  done.  When  these  fledglings  of  the  schools 
come  into  the  business  it  will  change.  They  will  know 
how  to  plan  a  conventional  campaign,  how  to  con- 
struct the  copy  for  the  advertisement,  and  how  to 
lay  it  out  for  the  printer.  What  they  will  not  know 
is  how  to  get  that  keen  and  acrid  flavor  of  life  that 
the  present  advertiser  has  discovered  enables  him  to 
be  a  real  advertising  man.  There  is  much  that  can  be 
taught  to  qualify  a  youth  for  the  work  of  leading 
crowds  up  to  the  counters  of  trade,  but  that  which  is 
most  vital  is  not  to  be  taught  in  schools. 

The  real  advertiser  delights  to  lead  men,  as  do  the 
real  preachers,  the  real  lawyers,  the  great  evangelists 
of  religion,  ethics  and  business.  It  is  food  and  drink 
to  him  to  note  that  he  is  able  to  move  people,  to  get 
them  acting  as  he  suggests.  To  this  end  he  studies 
them.  It  is  not  important  that  an  advertising  man 
should  know  how  to  write  copy,  or  how  to  specify 
[149] 


Advertising 

the  display  for  the  printer.  There  are  many  who  are 
not  advertising  men  who  can  do  these  things.  Schools 
of  advertising  would  need  to  take  their  students  and 
observe  them  for  a  series  of  months,  and  then  send  90 
per  cent  of  them  to  learn  other  vocations.  The  train- 
ing of  advertisers  is  subordinate  to  the  selection  of 
the  subjects  for  the  training. 


[160] 


XI 

How  the  People  Take  It 

Just  how  deeply  the  public  is  interested  in  adver- 
tising is  a  matter  which,  as  Dundreary  used  to  say, 
"No  feller  can  find  out."  There  is  much  speculation 
and  assertion,  but  there  is  nobody  who  knows.  Many 
people  read  the  advertisements,  but  how  many,  com- 
pared with  the  number  that  read  newspapers  and 
magazines.''  How  many  people  read  street-car  cards, 
billboards,  the  circulars  strewn  on  the  porches  of  our 
houses.?  Women  read  the  advertising  that  appears 
in  their  evening  papers,  and  some  of  that  which 
appears  in  the  magazines.  They  read  more  advertise- 
ments than  do  the  men.  Look  along  the  aisles  of  the 
cars  on  the  suburban  trains  any  morning,  and  note 
the  few  men  who  seem  to  be  paying  attention  to  the 
advertisements;  yet  if  there  is  a  new  safety  razor 
to  be  put  on  sale  that  morning,  and  liberally  adver- 
tised in  the  papers,  nearly  all  the  men  on  the  train 
will  know  about  it  before  they  debark  at  their  station. 
In  the  process  of  turning  the  sheets  of  the  voluminous 
morning  papers  of  the  big  cities  most  men  absorb 
some  degree  of  consciousness  of  some  of  the  adver- 
tising. And  when  they  wish  for  socks  they  think  of 
the  advertised  brands,  because  the  advertisements 
have  crept  into  their  minds  and  installed  there  the 
names  of  those  socks. 

A  nervy  young  merchant  wished  to  "splurge"  on 
a  sale  of  left-overs,  but  the  senior  frowned  upon  the 
[151] 


Advertising 

suggestion.  The  young  man  carried  his  point,  and 
spent  some  $2,500  in  Sunday  papers  to  announce  the 
special  sale  for  Monday  morning,  despite  the  pro- 
tests of  the  elder,  who  thought  the  money  was  wasted. 
There  was  $9,000  sales  before  noon  that  Monday, 
showing  that  some  people  had  read  the  advertising. 
This  is  typical  of  department  store  advertising.  It 
is  a  variety  of  publicity  that  attracts  instant  atten- 
tion, and  is,  so  far  as  it  is  well  done,  sure  to  bring 
returns.  Advertising  is  as  necessary  for  the  depart- 
ment store  as  stocks  of  goods.  It  covers  the  ground 
all  the  way  from  the  artistic  and  skilful  work  for 
the  Marshall  Field  and  Wanamaker  stores  to  the 
mere  lists  of  goods  and  "cut"  prices  for  the  "empo- 
riums" of  New  York's  East  Side. 

The  response  of  the  public  to  advertising  is  one 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  times.  Why  do  the  people 
rush  to  buy  advertised  goods  in  one  instance  and 
neglect  the  invitations  of  other  advertisements  ?  Why, 
when  they  do  respond  to  advertising,  do  they  so  often 
leave  their  judgment  and  common  sense  at  home? 
Why  should  it  be  possible  for  a  cheap  department 
store  to  sell  many  gross  of  a  cheap  scarfpin  at 
twice  the  regular  retail  price,  merely  by  announcing 
that  its  "value"  was  more  than  the  price  asked  ? 

Consider  how  small  a  proportion  of  the  readers  of 
newspapers  and  periodicals  pay  any  attention  to 
the  advertisements.  Suppose  a  clothier  advertises  a 
sale  of  1,000  overcoats  in  newspapers  having  a 
million  readers.  If  he  sells  all  the  overcoats  he  thinks 
himself  lucky,  and  he  is  lucky.  His  return  is  but  one- 
[16«] 


How  the  People  Take  It 

tenth  of  one  per  cent  of  the  potential  readers  of  his 
advertisement.  If  one  per  cent  of  the  readers  of  the 
papers  had  read  the  advertisement,  and  one  per  cent 
of  those  who  read  the  advertisement  had  bought 
overcoats,  the  overcoats  would  all  have  been  sold.  Is 
this  a  good  way  to  figure  the  pulling  power  of  an 
advertisement.?  It  might  work  with  overcoats  and 
fail  with  shoes.  It  is  the  commonest  experience  of 
beginners  in  advertising  that  they  get  absolutely  no 
response.  They  dodge  into  advertising,  venture  a 
timid  little  try-out,  get  no  response,  and  join  the 
ranks  of  the  also-tried.  Probably  the  greatest  pro- 
portion of  advertising  money  that  is  wasted  comes 
from  these  people  who  never  ought  to  have  tried 
advertising. 

It  is  not  so  many  years  since  the  general  estima- 
tion of  advertising  was  that  it  was  a  method  of 
defrauding  people.  There  are  many  who  think  that 
way  now;  and  they  are  justified  by  a  too  large  pro- 
portion of  the  bulk  of  the  advertising  that  appears 
in  the  so-called  "mediums."  It  is  not  that  this  pro- 
portion of  advertising  is  intended  to  defraud,  but 
that  it  is  based  upon  the  old  idea  that  to  be  effective 
advertising  must  deal  in  superlatives,  and  offer  more 
than  there  is  any  hope  of  delivering.  There  is  the 
open  or  disguised  promise  of  more  than  the  goods 
will  justify,  the  allurement  of  the  exceptional  value. 
The  advertisement  that  describes  an  article  and  fixes 
the  price  at  what  it  is  worth,  and  says  so,  is  almost 
unknown.  There  is  the  bait,  and  the  bait  is  often  in 
the  form  of  allegation  of  exceptional  value. 
[153] 


Advertising 

In  the  minds  of  intelligent  buyers  this  margin  of 
untruth  is  reckoned.  They  discount  the  allegations 
of  advertisers.  They  assume  that  there  is  an  element 
of    exaggeration    and    untruth    in    advertising,    ex- 
pressed or  implied,  and  they  form  their  judgments 
and  regulate  their  actions  accordingly.  This  element 
of  untruth  in  advertising  is  very  subtle,  and  very 
hard  to  locate.  In  many  of  the  advertisements  of  the 
V      'l  better  class  of  stores  and  manufacturers,  there  is  no 
/   word  used  and  no  proposition  presented  that  is  not 
/    true.  Yet  their  advertising  is  sometimes  vitally  mis- 
1    leading  and  untrue.  There  is  in  many  advertisements 
\  an  assumption  of  virtue  that  is  unwarranted.  The 
assumption,  for  example,  that  Robinson's  is  a  supe- 
rior store  is  always  present  in  the  advertising  of  that 
store;  and  in  some  ways  the  store  is  different  from 
others.  The  assumption  of  super-excellence  in  all  the 
policies  of  the  store  is  assiduously  driven  into  the 
consciousness  of  the  readers  of  the  advertisements. 
{[  It  is  the  chief  aim  of  the  advertising  to  create  a  men- 
//  tal  atmosphere  of  superiority  in  the  mind  of  the 
I  reader.   The  policy  extends  to  the  attitude  of  the 
salesmen  and  women  in  the  store,  who  exert  them- 
selves to  make  the  customers  at  home  and  at  ease. 
The  goods  sold  in  this  store  are  no  better  than  the 
ordinary  department  store  goods,  nor  less  in  price. 
The  bait  of  this  advertising  is  a  variety  of  untruth, 
if  we  are  going  to  be  very  strict  in  definitions.  There 
is  the  implication  that  different  and  better  treatment 
and  goods  are  to  be  found  at  this  store,  and  the  im- 
plication is  about  all  there  is  to  it.  There  is  a  hope 
[164] 


How  the  People  Take  It 

of  preference  built  up  by  the  advertising,  but  there 
is  no  preference. 

The  people  who  read  the  advertising  in  the  papers, 
the  magazines,  the  street  cars,  on  the  billboards,  and 
who  get  the  announcements  and  circulars  sent  in  the 
mail,  learn  to  make  allowance;  to  know  about  the 
percentage  of  untruth  employed  by  the  different 
big  advertisers,  and  discount  their  statements  ac- 
cordingly. But  this  modicum  of  falsehood  in  so  many 
advertisements  breeds  in  the  minds  of  people  an 
equalizing  feeling  of  distrust  of  all  advertising, 
and  all  advertising  is  to  some  extent  automatically 
discredited. 

People  who  have  become  sophisticated  look  with 
suspicion  upon  advertising.  The  suspicion  may  not 
find  expression  in  words,  or  be  consciously  enter- ^ 
tained.  Yet  down  in  the  bottom  of  the  minds  of  the  w 
readers  there  is  a  feeling  that  whatever  the  adver- 
tisement may  say  they  would  like  te  see  the  adver- 
tised article  before  buying  it.  Such  a  feeling  of  dis- 
trust does  not  limit  our  faith  in  the  statements  of 
friends,  nor  does  it  attach  in  anything  like  the  same 
degree  to  the  news  we  read  in  the  newspapers,  not- 
withstanding our  firm  conviction  that  the  newspa- 
pers have  a  very  poor  regard  for  the  truth.  We  feel 
that  the  selfish  motive  of  the  advertiser  inevitably 
leads  him  to  make  statements  intended  to  lead  us 
astray  as  to  the  actual  value  and  usefulness  of  the 
thing  he  advertises. 

The  advertisers  are  always  trying  to  "paint  the\  j 

lily."  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they  have  be- 
[156] 


Advertising 

come  converted  to  "truth  in  advertising"  they  con- 
tinue to  make  this  subtle  variety  of  untruth  the 
leading  attractive  quality  of  their  advertising.  De- 
scriptive and  qualifying  adjectives  have  not  the 
value  in  advertising  given  them  in  other  reading 
matter.  The  superlative  in  advertising  does  not  con- 
vince readers;  it  is  as  likely  to  implant  distrust  in 
their  minds.  There  is  one  very  big  concern  that  has 
made  several  fortunes  through  advertising,  that  has 
never  exaggerated  and  never  told  untruths.  It  has 
assumed  that  people  have  sense  and  know  how  to 
discriminate.  Its  advertising  is  accepted  at  its  face 
value.  There  are  a  few  others  whose  advertising  is 
read  in  entire  faith  in  its  bona  fides.  The  whole  com- 
mercial world  knows  what  real  advertising  truth  has 
done  for  these  concerns,  yet  the  average  advertiser 
still  beheves  that  there  must  be  an  element  of  un- 
truth in  his  advertising  or  it  will  not  "pull." 
\/  I  While  advertising  is  not  accepted  at  its  face  value 
I  by  the  masses  of  newspaper  and  periodical  readers, 
I  it  is  read  with  keen  interest  by  a  proportion  of  them. 
The  advertising  of  several  big  stores  in  different 
cities  is  one  of  the  more  interesting  features  of  the 
newspapers  so  fortunate  as  to  print  it.  One  never 
thinks  of  neglecting  it.  There  are  in  the  metropoli- 
tan newspapers  always  two  or  three  advertisements 
that  are  as  interesting  as  anything  in  those  sheets. 
There  are  men  in  the  business  of  advertising  writing 
whose  work  averages  with  any  literary  work  in  any 
of  the  high-class  periodicals.  They  have  acquired  a 
style — a  felicity  of  language,  a  capacity  to  say  what 

[166] 


How  the  People  Take  It 

they  wish  to  Say,  a  power  to  put  a  few  words  into 
a  form  that  makes  a  great  impression  on  the  readers, 
the  art  of  making  words  express  shades  and  color- 
ings of  meaning — which  enables  them  to  turn  out 
pastels  in  prose,  poetry  in  description,  arguments 
in  solution,  lure,  persuasion,  and  conviction,  in  such 
guise  that  its  purpose  and  leading  is  almost  forgot- 
ten in  the  pure  joy  of  reading  English  so  subtly 
molded  to  the  motive  of  the  composition.  In  none 
of  the  literature  of  the  day  has  the  language  been 
so  modified  for  the  expression  of  the  thought  in 
the  mind  of  the  writer  as  in  advertising;  and  no- 
where has  the  idea  of  shaping  the  language  of  an 
idea  to  slip  easily  into  the  consciousness  of  the 
reader  been  so  perfected. 

There  are  in  the  service  of  the  large  advertisers, 
and  of  the  advertising  agencies,  a  new  and  significant 
variety  of  litterateurs,  men  and  women  who  are  able 
to  so  manipulate  the  English  language  as  to  make 
the  shade  of  James  Howell  turn  green  with  envy. 
They  make  a  close  study  of  the  meanings  of  words, 
and  what  words  may  be  made  to  mean  when  placed  in 
the  right  juxtaposition.  They  become  very  skilful  in 
making  a  few  words  mean  as  much  as  a  sermon,  and 
carry  as  positive  a  motive  as  a  real  estate  deed  or 
an  act  of  congress.  They  are  able  to  phrase  an  an- 
nouncement with  a  few  words  so  that  it  will  suggest 
the  character  of  a  commodity  so  clearly,  and  created 
in  the  mind  of  the  reader  so  definite  a  desire,  as  to( 
powerfully  suggest  an  order.  They  have  to  build  up  / 
in  the  mind  of  the  reader  a  perfect    image  of  the  J 

[167] 


Advertising 

/advertised  article,  or  its  distinctive  quality,  and  at 

{   the  same  time  to  so  work  upon  the  motor  of  the  mind 

I  as  to  get  it  to  prompt  the  purchase. 

/  This  is  a  difficult  thing.  It  seems  to  be  impossible; 

/but  if  writers  of  advertising  are  not  able  to  do  it 

I  they  are  not  fit  for  their  task.  That  it  is  done  sug- 

j  gests   one  way   in   which   advertising   is   modifying 

business  and  social  life. 

In  the  older  method  of  contact  of  mind  and  mind, 
one  mind  emptied  itself  in  the  presence  of  the  other 
without  preparing  the  way  into  it,  trusting  that 
some  part  of  the  message  would  go  home  and  per- 
form its  mission.  The  astute  advertiser  follows  an- 
other method:  He  first  discovers  what  is  the  dispo- 
sition of  his  prospect,  what  are  his  habits  of  mind, 
what  is  the  easy  road  into  his  mind,  what  it  is  nec- 
v     \  essary  to  do  to  get  him  thinking  in  the  right  way — 

in  short,  how  the  mind  can  be  prepared  for  the  mes- 
sage he  wishes  to  lodge  in  it.  The  modern  salesman 
is  obliged  to  adopt  the  same  methods.  Between  the 
salesman  and  the  advertiser  there  is  being  introduced 
into  the  world  a  different  method  of  persuasion,  and 
its  application  is  becoming  more  and  more  universal 
each  year.  Ultimately,  this  modification  of  the  inter- 
(^  course  of  people  will  have  its  effect  upon  all  phases 
^  )  of  life.  Sometime  the  preacher  will  not  dare  to  de- 
pend upon  fervor,  spirituality  and  eloquence,  to  in- 
fluence his  flock  into  the  better  way  of  life,  but  will 
have  to  study  methods  of  getting  his  message  into 
minds  that  have  been  fertilized  and  cultivated  for  its 
reception  in  the  manner  the  advertisers  now  practice 
[168] 


How  the  People  Take  It 

to  soften  the  soil  of  the  minds  of  the  people  for  the      4^. 
reception  of  their  pleas  to  buy. 

Advertising  methods,  and  the  acute  if  shallow  re-  _/ 
searches  of  the  advertising  men,  have  been  instru- 
mental in  bringing  the  principles  of  psychology,  so 
far  as  they  teach  methods  for  controlling  minds  and 
suggesting  actions,  into  the  affairs  of  everyday  life. 
Whether  or  not  they  are  to  be  thanked  for  this  is  not 
yet  clear.  They  have  imposed  a  condition  upon  our 
business  life  that  is  important,  and  likely  to  impor- 
tantly modify  methods  and  theories.  Whether  or 
not  we  are  inclined  to  make  a  study  of  this  more  or 
less  new  idea  of  getting  inside  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple we  deal  with,  by  methods  almost  as  definite  and 
prosaic  as  those  we  employ  in  splitting  a  log  for  the  ' 
living-room  fire,  the  principles  of  psychology  are 
now  available  to  everybody,  and  those  whose  watch- 
word is  "hustle"  are  grasping  them,  with  varying 
degrees  of  understanding,  and  applying  them  to 
their  business  methods  with  great  enthusiasm  and 
persistency. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  a   somewhat  misty   and 
uncertain  era  of  mind  influence — in  business,  in  so-  ? 

cial  life,  and  in  the  realms  of  ethics,  morals,  and 
religion.  It  is  the  advertising  man  who  has  precipi- 
tated us  into  this  era.  What  the  outcome  will  be  we 
do  not  know,  except  that  we  will  never  return  to  the 
former  more  simple,  if  less  effective,  methods  of  sell- 
ing our  goods  and  of  converting  our  neighbors. 
There  has  been  injected  into  the  veins  of  the  body 
politic  a  virus  that  will  work  some  kind  of  perma- 
[169] 


Advertising 

nent  change;  for  the  better  we  hope,  but,  for  better 
or  worse,  a  radical  and  drastic  change. 

Up  to  a  recent  time  the  public  has  received  ad- 
vertising very  much  in  the  manner  of  the  forcible 
feeding  of  suffragettes  in  the  English  gaols.  It  has 
Inot  asked  for  it,  it  has  not  wanted  it,  and  in  many 
of  its  phases  has  vigorously  protested  against  it.  No 
mercy  has,  however,  been  shown.  The  billboards  are 
yet  by  almost  every  roadside,  the  hoardings  are  on 
almost  every  blank  wall,  the  compounds  for  the 
/"cure"  of  almost  all  the  ills  known  to  man  are  still 
heralded  on  the  pages  of  many  newspapers,  the  street 
cars  are  still  decorated  with  the  amazing  declara- 
tions of  specific,  cosmetic,  commodity,  process,  and 
suggestion,  and  the  blank  spaces  along  the  city 
streets  are  blazoned  with  electric  signs.  Whether  we 
will  or  not,  we  are  advertised  at  from  every  vantage 
and  angle,  in  every  place,  and  on  every  occasion. 
The  most  persistent  book  agent  is  obliged  to  get  con- 
sent before  he  can  bore  a  person  with  the  tale  of 
his  wares,  but  the  advertiser  does  not  ask  whether 
or  not  you  like  it — he  slams  his  story  into  your 
face. 

There  is  a  faint  sentiment  seeping  into  the  minds 
of  some  shrewd  advertisers  and  publishers  that  this 
may  not  be  altogether  wise.  A  more  insinuating  .ap- 
proach is  being  cultivated  by  some  advertisers,  and 
some  publishers  of  advertising  mediums  are  begin- 
ning to  restrict  the  variety  of  advertising  taken. 
This  movement  is  as  yet  scarcely  discernible,  except 
as  noted  in  the  case  of  trade  journals.  It  is  in  the 
[160] 


How  the  People  Take  It 

nature  of  a  reaction  from  the  public,  which  is  get- 
ting into  the  condition  known  as  "died,"  when  pigs 
are  in  mind.  The  public  has  been  getting  too  much 
advertising,  and  is  crying  for  less.  This  cry  will 
get  more  insistent  as  time  goes  on,  and  finally  ad- 
vertisers wiU  become  conscious  of  it,  and  will  heed 
it — to  their  own  profit. 

Not  too  many  things  have  been  advertised,  but 
some  things  have  been  advertised  too  much.  In  the 
happy  advertising  future  there  will  be  a  great  many 
more  advertisers,  and  many  less  "double-spreads." 
This  is  one  of  the  matters  that  the  public,  in  its  re- 
ception of  modern  advertising,  is  attending  to, 
slowly  but  efficiently.  In  the  end,  any  appeal  must  be 
made  in  the  terms  of  the  parties  appealed  to.  If 
the  public  is  to  be  depended  upon  to  respond  to  ad- 
vertising, advertising  must  ultimately  be  shaped  to 
suit  the  tastes  and  temper  of  the  public.  At  present 
many  advertisers  seem  to  consider  the  buying  pub- 
lic in  the  light  of  a  crowd  of  people  who  must  pass 
through  the  turnstiles  they  have  erected,  and  deposit 
coins  for  the  privilege.  Many  publishers  of  advertis- 
ing mediums  (newspapers  and  other  periodicals)  ap- 
pear to  believe  that  they  have  collated  their  sub- 
scription lists  for  the  benefit  of  the  concerns  that 
advertise  in  their  pages,  and  therefore  support  them. 
They  get  together  a  company  of  people,  secure  entry 
into  their  homes,  and  say  to  the  advertisers,  "Here 
are  so  and  so  many  people  who  have  got  some  money 
you  can  get  if  you  advertise  with  us." 

People  are  beginning  to  become  sensitive  to  these 
[161] 


Advertising 

methods  of  the  advertisers.  They  know  that  they  do 
not  have  to  buy  the  advertised  things,  but  they  do 
not  enjoy  being  constantly  told  how  unwise  or  im- 
provident they  are  if  they  do  not.  The  constant 
trickle  of  command  to  buy  gets  on  the  nerves  of  some 
readers,  and  they  begin  to  look  upon  the  advertising 
section  with  relative  hostility.  They  hate  to  have 
the  advertisers  get  their  feet  in  so  that  they  cannot 
close  the  doors  of  their  minds  to  the  insistence.  As 
they  make  this  growing  aversion  to  too  much  pres- 
sure manifest,  the  advertisers  and  publishers  who 
are  wise  will  try  to  modify  the  great  burden  of  ad- 
vertising, in  volume  and  character.  How  delightfully 
refreshing  it  will  be  when  publishers  of  great  maga- 
zines and  papers  declare  that  they  will  accept  only 
advertisements  of  such  goods  as  their  readers  require 
to  satisfy  their  needs,  and  as  are  consonant  with 
the  character  of  their  periodicals ! 

Wise  advertisers  are  taking  account  of  the  grad- 
ual education  of  the  public  in  advertising  methods, 
and  its  slow  formulation  of  its  degree  and  methods 
of  acceptance  of  advertising.  They  realize  that  ad- 
vertising cannot  be  administered  to  the  public  as  an 
alterative  is  administered  to  a  person  with  disordered 
insides.  Not  only  must  the  advertisement  be  agreeable 
to  the  palate  as  it  is  being  taken,  but  its  ultimate 
effects  upon  the  economy  of  the  body  politic  must  be 
good.  If  advertising  produces  economic  nausea,  with- 
out salutary  after  effects,  that  advertising  should  not 
be  imposed  upon  the  people.  It  is  deleterious  to  the 
advertiser  and  to  the  medium.  Some  investigation  in 
[162] 


How  the  People  Take  It 

this  direction  is  being  made,  but  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  investigation  by  the  great  advertising-me- 
dium publishers  and  the  big  advertising  agencies  is 
along  lines  that  tend  to  discover  and  uncover  for  the 
advertisers  the  ultimate  dollar  of  the  consumers. 
There  is  this  feeling  growing  up  in  the  public  mind, 
directed  against  the  big  magazines  and  newspapers. 
Those  mediums  are  bought  for  another  purpose  than 
to  make  them  cash  carriers,  taking  from  their  readers 
and  delivering  to  the  advertisers.  This  dawning  sense 
of  being  "worked"  a  bit  too  hard  by  the  periodicals 
and  the  advertisers  will  in  due  time  have  its  effect 
upon  advertising. 


[168] 


xn 

The  Need  of  Research 

The  advertising  men  who  are  students  of  the  con- 
ditions that  affect  their  profession  are  advocates 
of  analysis  as  applied  to  problems  they  have  to 
solve,  but  not  excessively  so  as  regards  the  business 
itself.  The  reason  for  this  indifference  with  regard 
to  the  ordered  fundamentals  of  advertising  lie  on- 
the  surface.  They  will  suggest  themselves  to  those, 
who  are  familiar  with  the  present  condition  of  ad- 
vertising, and  with  its  history. 

There  is  a  certain  amount  of  research  work  being 
prosecuted  in  the  field  of  advertising.  Several  pro-, 
fessors  of  psychology  connected  with  the  lesser  coK 
leges  and  universities  have  been  making  experiments 
and  investigations  along  sectional  lines,  and  in  the 
larger  institutions  the  subject  is  attracting  some  at- 
tention, chiefly  outside  the  strict  university  work  of 
the  professors  or  instructors  interested.  In  Columbia 
two  or  three  of  the  professors  have  been  doing  use- 
ful, if  sporadic  and  inconclusive,  work,  chiefly  as 
leaders  of  classes  formed  among  practical  advertising 
men  for  the  purpose  of  special  study  of  certain  phases 
of  their  work.  Such,  for  example,  was  the  interesting 
and  valuable  work  of  Professor  Frank  Alvah  Par- 
sons in  his  study  with  a  class  in  "The  Principles  of 
Advertising  Arrangement";  the  work  of  Professors 
Strong  and  Hollingworth  of  Columbia  with  similar 
classes,  and  the  more  extensive  work  of  Professor 
Walter  Dill  Scott  of  the  Northwestern  University, 
[164] 


The  Need  of  Research 

who  has  published  two  or  three  volumes.  Professor 
Miinsterberg  of  Harvard  has  given  the  matter  of 
psychology  of  business  some  slight  attention,  and 
Professor  Edmund  Burke  Huey  of  the  Western  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  has  published  a  book  upon 
"The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Reading,"  which 
has  a  great  though  incidental  value  as  a  section  of 
that  thorough  treatment  the  matter  deserves.  There 
are  a  number  of  interesting  books  that  have  been 
written  by  laymen  which  are  of  some  value,  but  which 
do  not  contribute  materially  to  what  we  may  call  a 
comprehensive  survey  of  advertising,  as  a  business 
partaking  of  psychology  so  largely  as  we  suspect 
it  does.  These  books  are  more  in  the  nature  of  per- 
sonal experiences  and  impressions,  and  impress  one 
as  being  dogmatic  without  making  it  apparent  that 
their  writers  have  warrant  for  dogmatism,  and  in- 
conclusive because  they  do  not  in  the  beginning  lay 
down  the  principles  according  to  which  they  have 
worked.  One  of  these  books  may  be  mentioned  as  a 
departure  from  the  usual  method  of  treatment.  Paul 
T.  Cherington,  connected  with  the  Harvard  Gradu- 
ate School  of  Business  Administration,  has  compiled 
a  book  that  is  of  considerable  interest,  called  "Ad- 
vertising as  a  Business  Force,"  which  consists  of  a 
series  of  excerpts  from  advertising  periodicals  joined 
with  explanatory  comment,  the  whole  forming  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  a  case  book.  It  is  of  use  to 
practicing  advertising  men,  as  most  of  the  citations 
are  from  reports  of  successful  experiments  in  ad- 
vertising. Its  value  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  scien- 
[166] 


Advertising 

tific  interpretation  of  the  fundamentals  of  advertis- 
ing is  not  apparent,  and  it  is  probable  that  that  was 
not  a  part  of  the  author's  intent. 

It  is  not  bits  of  experience  that  are  needed  to  form 
a  theory  of  advertising  that  will  account  for  its 
present  development  and  lay  down  principles  for  its 
future.  Experience  in  advertising  has  been  along 
lines  not  developed  from  methodical  study,  nor  in- 
deed through  careful  analysis  of  such  records  of  ex- 
perience as  are  available.  The  results  of  successful 
experience  are  faulty,  because  they  usually  omit  to 
mention  the  preceding  experimentation  and  the  meth- 
ods that  led  from  non-success  to  success,  and  because 
it  is  often  the  impulse  of  the  reporter  to  withhold 
such  data  as  does  not  tend  to  prove  his  postulate. 

Practically  all  the  data  available  for  estimating 
the  efficiency  of  advertising  is  ex  parte  evidence.  The 
data  that  would  shed  reliable  light  on  this  wonder- 
fully interesting  problem  is  held  as  private  property, 
in  the  records  of  concerns  that  have  been  experiment- 
ing on  their  own  account  and  for  their  own  benefit. 
They  are  not  willing  to  submit  their  data  to  investi- 
gators who  are  not  backed  by  responsible  institutions. 
There  has  as  yet  been  no  request  for  it  on  the  part 
of  representatives  of  universities,  or  of  well-based 
organizations  within  the  ranks  of  the  advertising 
fraternity.  It  is  time  there  was  some  well  conceived 
and  properly  financed  movement  to  ascertain  the 
nature  and  capacities  of  advertising,  and  formulate 
the  results  in  a  terminology  that  will  be  understand- 
able by  the  practitioner  as  well  as  by  the  student. 

[166] 


The  Need  of  Research 

The  matter  of  research  work  in  the  advertising 
field  has  for  a  long  time  engaged  the  attention  of 
some  of  the  more  earnest  students  in  the  profession. 
It  comes  to  the  fore  occasionally,  at  the  meetings 
of  the  larger  organizations,  but  the  interest  in  it  has 
thus  far  been  purely  academic;  there  has  been  no 
definite  effort  to  inaugurate  the  movement  that  is  of 
all  the  activities  of  the  organized  profession  the  most 
important  to  its  permanence  and  profitable  opera- 
tion. 

But  this  delicate  matter  should  not  be  left  to  the 
advertising  man.  In  its  prosecution  he  should  have 
but  the  part  of  adviser.  The  work  should  be  con- 
ducted by  one  of  the  universities,  and  under  the  guid- 
ance of  a  competent  professor  of  psychology  with 
the  mental  equipment  and  habits  of  Professor  Miin- 
sterberg.  It  is  a  work  eminently  worthy  of  the  great- 
est university  in  America.  There  is  nothing  at  present 
attracting  attention  in  the  field  of  sociology  that 
so  nearly  touches  the  lives  of  the  people  as  does  ad- 
vertising. It  is  revolutionizing  family  economics.  It 
is  making  of  life  a  very  diff^erent  problem  than  that 
which  faced  our  fathers.  It  is  deflecting  our  morals, 
and  causing  us  to  look  upon  the  great  problems  of 
life  through  glasses  that  are  ground  according  to  no 
authorized  prescription.  There  is  almost  nothing  that 
is  purchased  for  personal  or  family  consumption  that 
is  not  off^ered  through  advertising,  or  that  is  not 
manufactured  and  marketed  with  the  advertising  ne- 
cessities of  the  case  entering  in  as  a  controlling  con- 
sideration. Let  serious  men  or  women  think  for  a 

[167] 


Advertising 

moment  of  their  own  experiences.  How  much  do  they 
buy  that  is  not  suggested  by  advertising  in  sight, 
or  suggestions  that  advertising  has  poured  into  their 
minds  ?  What  do  they  do  that  is  not  in  some  measure 
the  act  of  assenting  to  advertising  suggestion? 
Where  do  they  go  that  they  are  not  in  some  degree 
obeying  the  mandates  of  advertising? 

What  would  be  revealed  to  us  if  this  overshadow- 
ing influence  of  advertising  in  our  lives  could  be 
searched  out,  digested  into  facts  and  stated  in  terms 
we  could  understand?  If  we  were  to  try  and  compute 
the  cost  of  advertising,  directly  and  indirectly,  in 
our  modem  lives,  what  would  we  discover?  It  is  not 
that  advertising  is  directly  charged  up  to  the  con- 
sumer that  forms  this  margin  of  added  cost  of  liv- 
ing. We  are  told  that  if  our  breakfast  foods  were 
not  advertised  they  would  cost  us  more,  because  ad- 
vertising creates  great  businesses  and  therefore  pro- 
portionately reduces  the  unit  cost.  Fallacious  logic! 
If  it  were  not  for  advertising  we  would  not  be  using 
breakfast  foods,  or  at  least  would  be  eating  the  hom- 
iny, crushed  wheat,  or  rolled  oats,  of  the  time  ante- 
rior to  advertising.  Now  we  must  have  a  variety  of 
foods  for  the  breakfast  table,  and  it  is  advertising 
that  forces  them  into  our  larders.  We  are  all  using 
and  wearing  and  eating  many  things  that  have  been 
imposed  upon  our  lives  through  advertising,  and 
many  of  them  have  now  become  necessities. 

If  this  one  phase  of  advertising — its  real  relation 
to  our  economic  lives — could  be  definitely  ascertained 
and  clearly  stated  on  both  sides  of  the  question,  it 

[168] 


The  Need  of  Research 

would  be  a  revelation  that  would  astonish  us  all,  and 
shock  some.  There  are  two  sides  to  the  question,  of 
course ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  advantages 
resulting  from  advertising  might  outweigh  the  dis- 
advantages. Perhaps  chemistry  might  convince  us 
that  the  sanitary  carton  which  encloses  our  foods  is 
worth  all  it  costs,  but  scientific  research  would  estab- 
lish the  cost  to  us,  as  well  as  accurately  ascertain 
the  benefit.  We  do  not  take  the  trouble  to  think  of 
these  effects  of  advertising.  We  do  not  take  pains 
to  estimate  the  benefit  it  is  to  us.  We  do  not  know 
what  it  means  to  us ;  and  we  should  know. 

Taking  a  purely  professional  view  of  the  matter,  it 
is  made  evident  that  the  processes  of  advertising  are 
tremendously  extravagant.  It  costs  the  advertiser 
far  too  much  for  the  benefit  it  gives.  When  there  is 
something  like  a  75  per  cent  waste  in  advertising 
costs,  it  seems  that  the  time  is  near  when  advertisers 
must  themselves  take  some  measures  to  discover  why 
there  is  such  waste,  and  how  it  may  be  avoided. 

The  most  important,  as  well  as  the  most  interest- 
ing, phase  of  advertising  about  which  we  know  little, 
and  should  know  much,  is  its  effect  upon  individual 
and  social  character.  How  is  this  great  stream  of  i 
suggestion,  pouring  into  the  minds  of  the  people  all 
the  time,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  influences  that  have 
been  dominant  in  the  formative  forces  from  time 
immemorial,  affecting  humanity.?'  Is  it  building 
character,  enhancing  strength,  developing  bodies, 
broadening  thought,  clarifying  emotions,  sweetening 
dispositions,  developing  charity  and  love?  Is  it  en- 

[169] 


Advertising 

couraging  selfishness  and  greed,  exciting  passion, 
encouraging  irreligion,  increasing  extravagance  and 
gluttony  and  lust?  It  is  affecting  us  in  almost  every 
relation  and  moment  of  life.  How  is  it  affecting  us? 
That  is  what  we  do  not  know.  We  ought  to  know, 
in  order  to  adjust  our  lives  to  the  new  force  that  is  so 
insistently  interfering  with  them. 

This  is  the  most  interesting  problem  in  sight  to 
engage  the  attention  of  the  sociological  investigator. 
It  suggests  opportunities  that  are  quite  unique.  It 
offers  an  open  door  to  fame.  The  other  great  socio- 
logical questions  have  been  at  least  stated,  and  some 
progress  toward  their  full  exploitation  has  been 
made.  Even  the  question  of  feminism  is  on  the  way 
to  a  stage  at  which  it  will  be  thought  of  in  similar 
mental  terms  by  all  of  us,  and  the  necessary  postu- 
lates and  arguments  are  being  marshalled  for  our  ef- 
fort at  decision.  We  see  the  light  in  politics,  and 
we  get  glimmerings  of  the  onward  path  to  be  trod 
by  religion.  We  are  able  to  submit  ourselves  to  dif- 
ferent influences  in  these  matters,  and  make  some 
kind  of  an  argument  in  defense  or  explanation  of 
our  course.  But  we  cannot  resist  the  influence  of  ad- 
vertising in  our  lives,  nor  can  we  estimate  or  ex- 
plain it.  It  is  the  great  sociological  mystery.  What 
does  it  do  to  us,  how  does  it  do  it,  and  why?  We  are 
not  able  to  answer  these  questions. 

It  is  possible  to  aver  that  we  are  not  affected  by 
advertising,  but  we  cannot  even  make  the  statement 
without  availing  ourselves  of  some  of  the  things  ad- 
vertising has  imposed  upon  us.  If  we  speak  it,  it  is 
[170] 


The  Need  of  Research 

possible  that  our  enunciation  is  made  clear  and  crisp 
because  we  are  wearing  some  dental  device  that  has 
come  to  us  through  advertising.  If  the  allegation 
is  written,  we  use  several  advertised  things — paper, 
pencil,  fountain  pen,  a  form  of  enclosing  envelope, 
a  peculiar  printed  or  engraved  heading,  ink  that 
would  never  have  been  known  to  us  but  for  an  adver- 
tisement, etc.  There  is  not  a  thread  of  our  clothing 
but  is  ours  because  of  advertising  methods.  We  rarely 
eat  a  mouthful  of  food  that  does  not  come  to  us, 
directly  or  indirectly,  through  advertising.  The  very 
Bible  we  read,  and  all  other  literature,  is  advertised. 
Practically  everything  we  take  or  do  to  preserve 
our  health  is  advertised. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  assume  that  this  advertis- 
ing dominance  is  good  or  evil.  It  has  built  up  a  great 
wall  of  custom  over  which  we  cannot  go,  and  beyond 
which  is  a  country  of  habit  and  custom  that  has 
grown  strange  to  us — unknown  to  our  children  and 
a  mere  memory  to  us.  It  is  in  and  of  us.  We  are  opti- 
mistic enough  to  believe  it  is  for  good,  and  will  work 
out  in  a  manner  to  help  us  on  and  up.  But  we  don't 
know.  We  want  to  know.  We  have  a  right  to  know. 
We  see  much,  and  suspect  much  that  we  do  not  see. 
We  see  only  results,  and  only  glimpses  of  results. 
We  have  to  guess,  to  imagine,  to  accept  raw  asser- 
tions, to  do  without  knowledge,  because,  while  there 
are  investigators  and  agencies  that  lay  bare  to  our 
gaze  all  other  relations  of  life,  all  other  social  phe- 
nomena, all  other  religious  and  moral  problems,  there 
is  as  yet  none  to  tell  us  about  advertising. 

[171] 


Advertising 

The  great  association  of  advertising  men,  12,000 
strong  they  tell  us,  has  issued  its  creed  in  favor  of 
truth  in  advertising.  Why  it  has  done  so  we  are  not 
told.  By  what  process  of  reasoning  these  men  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  truth  in  advertising  is 
desirable  for  the  advertiser  and  him  advertised  to, 
we  do  not  know,  and  they  do  not  know.  They  are 
right,  of  course.  It  is  better  to  tell  the  truth  than 
to  lie,  even  in  business — even  in  the  advertising  busi- 
ness. But  how  much  better  is  it.?  How  much  more 
effective  is  the  truthful  advertisement  than  that 
which  skilfully  and  agreeably  lies.''  It  is  not  proved 
that  it  is  any  better,  for  the  advertiser.  There  is  a 
very  large  body  of  experienced  evidence  to  prove 
that  a  plausible  lie,  agreeably  stated,  is  a  great  ad- 
vertising force.  It  is  so  great  that  many  make  use  of 
it,  and  shudder  at  the  remote  possibility  of  having  to 
abandon  it.  The  men  who  in  convention  declare  for 
the  truth  in  advertising  wink  at  the  falsehoods,  direct 
and  implied,  in  their  own  advertising.  Why  are  we 
told  that  truth  is  mighty  in  advertising,  and  will  pre- 
vail.'* Is  the  statement  itself  true,  in  its  essence.?  If 
it  is,  then  we  are  to  look  for  literal  truth  in  all  the 
advertising  handled  by  members  of  the  association 
that  has  adopted  truth  as  its  shibboleth.  If  they  are 
not  prepared  to  make  literal  truth  the  basis  of  their 
advertising,  it  follows,  does  it  not.?  that  in  adopting 
the  shibboleth  they  are  merely  perpetuating  the  false 
in  advertising  that  it  is  supposed  to  be  a  protest 
against. 

There  is  a  great  psychological  principle  working 
[172] 


The  Need  of  Research 

in  this  matter,  but  we  do  not  know  exactly  what  it 
is  nor  what  it  means.  Some  research  agency  should 
become  interested  in  it.  The  natural  and  logical 
solution  is  that  the  advertising  interests  undertake  a 
research  work  that  shall  be  broad  enough  to  stand- 
ardize and  regulate  their  practice  and  at  the  same 
time  furnish  the  public  this  information  about  the 
effect  of  advertising  upon  the  social  body  which  it 
does  not  now  have.  There  is  a  difficulty,  however. 
Such  an  investigation  would  reveal  the  wastes  in 
the  advertising  methods,  and  the  elimination  of  the 
wastes  would  deprive  many  periodicals  of  their  adver- 
tising, and  probably  operate  to  diminish  the  volume 
of  advertising  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  mediums.  Mak- 
ing advertising  efficient  would  reduce  its  volume.  It 
would  take  some  advertisers  out  of  the  field,  and  re- 
duce the  amount  done  by  many.  It  would  also,  if 
the  teachings  of  the  results  of  the  investigation  were 
heeded,  bring  many  new  advertisers  into  the  field.  It 
would  so  change  methods  as  to  disorganize,  for  a 
time,  not  only  the  publications  that  exist  on  adver- 
tising but  the  agencies,  and  the  methods  of  many 
lines  of  business.  All  the  forces  of  the  business  will 
resist  real  research  work,  and  be  more  or  less  justi- 
fied in  doing  so.  Therefore  it  is  to  other  agencies  that 
we  must  look  for  research  in  the  field  of  advertising. 


[173] 


XIII 

Present-Day  Mediums 

The  mediums  for  advertising — the  avenues 
through  which  it  reaches  the  people — are  several 
and  varied. 

There  are  the  newspapers,  thought  by  their  pro- 
prietors to  be  the  only  proper,  profitable,  and  legiti- 
mate mediums ;  the  weekly  and  monthly  so-called  lit- 
erary periodicals,  of  general  circulation,  also 
thought  by  their  proprietors  to  be  the  only  proper, 
profitable,  and  legitimate  mediums ;  the  trade  and 
class  papers ;  the  street  cars ;  billboards ;  electric 
street  signs ;  novelties,  circulars,  pamphlets  and  book- 
lets, form  letters,  and  the  many  other  devices  and 
methods  for  getting  the  plea  of  the  advertiser  into 
the  minds  of  the  people  who  form  the  purchasing 
masses. 

Practically  all  these  mediums  exist  because  they 
are  advertising  mediums.  The  newspapers  and  pe- 
riodicals have  another  excuse  in  pleading  their  cause 
with  the  people  who  buy  them.  The  newspapers  are 
the  palladiums  of  our  liberties,  besides  being  news- 
papers. They  publish  the  news  of  the  day,  the  day 
before  and  the  day  after — such  of  it  as  they  believe 
will  be  for  our  good  and  their  glory.  One  of  the 
newspaper  publishers  put  the  theory  aptly  when  he 
said  that  if  there  was  anything  which  he  thought 
his  readers  should  not  read  he  did  not  allow  it  to  be 
printed.  Some  of  the  newspapers  do  print  "all  the 
news  that's  fit  to  print,"  so  far  as  their  editors  are 
[174] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

able  to  judge.  Whether  or  not  they  print  all  the 
news,  they  are  very  efficient  advertising  mediums,  as 
anybody  can  learn  by  reading  their  advertisements 
of  themselves.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  a  considerable 
class  of  people  that  wants  all  the  news,  and  it  is 
more  than  doubtful  if  there  is,  ever  was  or  ever  will 
be,  editors  who  know  absolutely  what  is  news.  No- 
body else  knows,  and  it  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  an  editor  knows  more  than  his  readers!  That 
which  is  news  to  one  man  does  not  in  the  least  inter- 
est another.  That  is  news  to  a  person  which  con- 
firms him  in  his  ideas  of  what  is  news,  or  helps  him 
demonstrate  his  theories  of  life  and  the  universe. 
It  is  also  news  if  one's  political  party  wins  an  elec- 
tion. It  is  news  to  me  if  a  friend  of  my  boyhood 
who  has  stayed  in  the  old  town  paints  his  barnyard 
fence;  but  no  news  to  my  wife,  because  she  spent 
her  youth  in  another  town.  That  is  news  which  inter- 
ests readers,  and  not  all  of  any  newspaper's  readers 
can  be  interested  in  the  same  things  or  in  the  same 
ways.  No  newspaper  can  possibly  print  all  the  news, 
fit  or  unfit.  That  newspaper  whose  editors  can  guess 
what  will  interest  the  greatest  number  of  people  is 
the  best  selling  newspaper;  but  the  best  advertis- 
ing medium  is  that  newspaper  which  gets  closest  to 
its  readers,  and  inspires  them  with  the  greatest  con- 
fidence in  what  it  prints. 

The  advertisement  is  like  the  chameleon — it 
changes  its  character  with  the  medium  in  which  it 
is  printed.  The  character  of  the  newspaper  fixes  the 
character  of  the  advertisements  printed  on  its  pages, 

[175] 


Advertising 

and  vitally  influences  the  returns  flowing  from  them. 
A  clean,  honest  newspaper  yields  more  to  its  adver- 
tisers than  does  a  paper  that  is  not  trusted  or  is 
not  scrupulously  clean.  An  advertising  medium  is 
valuable  as  such  in  a  very  direct  ratio  to  its  character 
and  circulation.  The  pubhc,  besides  being  credulous 
and  willing  to  swallow  almost  every  kind  of  advertis- 
ing bait,  is  sensitive  and  finicky.  Because  it  is  willing 
to  buy  a  newspaper  on  a  street  corner  is  no  warranty 
that  it  will  buy  the  wares  advertised  in  that  paper, 
or  that  it  will  give  credence  to  that  which  is  printed 
in  it.  It  is  the  habit  of  men  to  like  the  vernacular 
of  the  gutter,  but  it  is  not  their  habit  to  turn  to  the 
paper  of  the  streets  for  advice  and  guidance  in  mak- 
ing purchases  for  the  home. 

Newspapers  are,  within  their  limited  field,  undoubt- 
edly the  best  advertising  mediums.  The  retail  mer- 
chant, the  grocer,  the  marketman,  the  seller  of  any 
goods  whose  distribution  area  is  coextensive  with 
the  field  covered  by  the  newspaper,  would  be  unwise 
to  take  up  advertising  with  any  periodical  medium 
except  the  newspapers.  The  manufacturer  or  dealer 
who  wishes  to  appeal  to  the  whole  country  or  to  any 
of  its  grand  divisions  would  not  be  able  profitably 
to  use  the  newspapers.  There  has  been  much  warm 
discussion  of  this  point,  as  between  the  magazines 
and  the  newspapers.  The  magazines  agree  that  they 
cannot  successfully  advertise  an  article  intended  for 
the  consumption  of  a  small  section;  while  the  news- 
papers believe  that  they  are  good  advertising  me- 
dhims  for  anything  that  is  to  be  advertised.  Nation- 

[176] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

ally  distributed  products  might,  as  a  proposition  of 
pure  theory,  be  advertised  in  the  newspapers.  But 
inasmuch  as  so  many  papers  would  have  to  be  used, 
and  as  the  gross  cost  would  be  so  immensely  big, 
it  is  evident  that  for  national  advertising  the  news- 
papers cannot  now  be  considered  by  advertisers  who 
figure  probabihties.  If  there  comes  a  day  when  the 
newspaper  proprietors  are  willing  to  work  together 
and  adjust  their  rates  so  that  relatively  as  much 
territory  may  be  covered  by  using  groups  of  news- 
papers, or  by  using  selected  lists,  as  can  be  covered 
with  the  same  money  through  the  use  of  magazines 
and  weekly  papers,  it  will  be  possible  for  the  news- 
papers to  claim  that  they  can  furnish  national  pub- 
licity upon  a  usable  basis. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  very  few  of  the  week- 
lies or  monthlies  that  can  by  themselves  furnish  na- 
tional publicity.  To  get  a  thorough  distribution  of 
advertising  a  very  careful  selection  of  mediums  has 
to  be  made.  Some  magazines  are  strong  in  one  sec- 
tion and  some  in  other  sections.  There  is  a  profitable 
field  into  which  none  of  the  well  known  magazines 
effectively  enter,  which  must  be  covered  through  what 
are  called  "mail-order"  journals,  or  by  the  exten- 
sively circulated  farm  and  class  journals.  The  high- 
class  magazines  are  read  by  one  stratum  of  buyers, 
the  weeklies  by  another,  the  cheap  magazines  by  an- 
other, the  mail-order  papers  by  another;  and  the 
newspapers  are  read  by  all,  but  in  isolated  groups,  so 
that  their  circulation  is  limited  territorially  while  the 
magazine  circulation  is  limited  temperamentally. 

[177] 


Advertising 

The  newspapers  of  America  are  passing  through 
a  phase  of  development  that  is  of  peculiar  interest. 
They  have  not  yet  become  fixed  as  one  of  the  social 
features  of  this  country.  They  are  in  a  condition  of 
flux,  as  they  have  been  since  the  elder  James  Gordon 
Bennett  made  up  his  mind  to  print  the  news  in  the 
New  York  Herald.  At  that  time  they  had  a  period  of 
big  development  as  newspapers.  Then  they  developed 
as  mechanical  propositions.  Now  they  are  developing 
as  properties.  Perhaps  they  will  have  another  cycle 
of  development  as  newspapers.  Just  now  their  growth 
as  advertising  mediums  is  their  most  significant  fea- 
ture, and  it,  coming  on  the  heels  of  a  very  wonder- 
ful evolution  of  the  machinery  for  producing  them, 
is  having  a  strong  tendency  to  turn  them  in  all  de- 
partments into  machines. 

The  element  of  strong  personal  leadership  and 
manipulation,  represented  by  such  men  as  Greeley, 
the  elder  Bowles,  the  elder  Bennett,  Bryant,  Childs, 
Raymond,  McClure,  Dana,  and  many  others  of  that 
type,  has  been  superseded  by  the  astute  business 
manager.  The  actual  editors  are  little  known  in  con- 
nection with  big  newspapers,  though  the  breed  is  not 
yet  extinct.  The  proprietor  often  takes  the  title  of 
editor^  while  doing  none  of  the  editorial  work.  In 
most  of  the  large  papers  the  policy  is  decided  by 
the  business  office;  not  always  unwisely  or  devoid  of 
ideals,  but  finally  and  inevitably.  Nearly  all  newspa- 
pers are  controlled  by  some  well-defined  policy,  for- 
mulated by  the  owners  and  rigidly  enforced.  Even 
those  papers  that  seem  to  be  conducted  on  broad  lines 
[178] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

are  always  concerned  for  the  income,  and  are  what 
they  are  because  their  owners  are  big  enough  to 
understand  that  the  greatest  profit  and  influence 
must  come  through  furthering  the  greatest  good  of 
the  people  who  buy  the  paper. 

The  mechanics  of  editing  the  newspapers  of  to- 
day are  behind  those  of  one  or  two  generations  ago. 
The  process  of  making  newspapers  has  been  reversed. 
Formerly  they  were  made  up  of  material  that  came  to 
them  in  the  form  of  news  and  reflective  observation. 
They  were,  in  a  real  sense,  reflectors  of  the  life  of 
their  times.  Now  they  are  reflectors  of  the  policies 
of  their  owners.  Their  treatment  of  the  news  of  the 
day  is  so  diff^erent,  one  from  another,  that  while  they 
use  the  same  basic  material  they  each  present  a  pic- 
ture of  the  passing  day  that  is  distinctive.  The  big 
newspaper  has  its  well-defined  policy,  its  definite  con- 
ception, as  to  what  the  news  of  the  day  shall  be  made 
to  mean  to  its  readers,  and  processes  of  editing  are 
predicated  upon  that  formulated  conception.  In  one 
paper  a  certain  event  will  be  so  "featured"  as  to  ap- 
pear the  most  significant  thing  for  the  readers'  at- 
tention. In  another  paper,  the  same  dispatch,  re- 
ceived in  identical  length  and  expressed  in  identical 
language,  may  be  relegated  to  an  obscure  position, 
cut  down  to  an  item,  and  honored  with  but  a  single- 
line  heading.  One  paper  "plays  it  up"  in  the  news 
columns,  and  makes  it  the  text  for  the  leading  edito- 
rial, and  the  other  minimizes  it. 

A  man  connected  with  the  editorial  staff'  of  one  of 
the  big  aggregations  of  newspapers  said;  "We  do 

[179] 


Advertising 

not  get  instructions.  I  never  had  a  word  of  advice  or 
instruction  from  the  Big  Boss ;  but  I  know  exactly 
what  he  wants.  If  I  did  not,  and  he  thought  that  I 
did  not,  I  would  not  be  here.  If  I  did  not  work  along 
the  lines  of  what  I  know  to  be  his  policy,  I  would 
not  stay  here." 

The  majority  of  the  larger  newspapers  are  oper- 
ated in  this  smooth  and  brotherly  fashion.  Every 
morning  or  evening  they  appear,  free  and  untram- 
meled,  with  all  the  news  their  conductors  see  fit  to 
print.  They  are  good  newspapers,  in  our  modern 
sense.  They  are  not  like  the  papers  of  the  old  days. 
In  some  ways  they  are  better. 

The  use  of  the  news  of  the  day  to  make  a  news- 
paper, rather  than  the  publishing  of  a  newspaper  for 
the  purpose  of  disseminating  the  news,  is  the  root 
of  the  evil  of  the  newspapers.  It  is  a  real  evil,  greater 
than  can  be  estimated  through  simply  considering 
that  each  newspaper  has  its  characteristic  method  of 
handling  the  news.  It  is  one  thing  to  handle  the 
news,  and  quite  another  thing  to  manipulate  the 
news.  It  is  that  the  news  is  manipulated  that  forms 
the  reproach  of  many  of  the  papers.  And  not  only 
that  the  news  is  manipulated,  but  that  the  tendencies 
and  lessons  of  the  news  are  not  left  to  shape  them- 
selves in  the  minds  of  the  readers.  The  newspapers 
insist  upon  their  own  interpretation,  not  only  in 
editorial  interpretation,  but  through  all  the  delicate 
and  subtle  methods  that  have  become  so  refined  in 
newspaper  ofiices.  There  is  much  matter  published 
that  has  an  entirely  different  psychological  influ- 
[180] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

ence  than  that  which  would  have  resulted  if  it  had 
not  been  molded,  excised,  tempered,  edited,  rewrit- 
ten, reversed,  or  in  some  way  made  to  convey  an 
impression  foreign  to  its  obvious  and  natural  mean- 
ing. 

The  great  majority  of  newspapers  are  seldom 
tempted  to  ignore  their  convictions,  because  they  are 
potent  only  in  small  communities.  There  are  also 
many  publishers  who  think  of  nothing  but  the  pleas- 
ure and  benefit  of  their  readers.  In  this  class  are 
the  thousands  of  country  weeklies  and  small  dailies. 
These  papers  are  credited  with  great  cumulative  in- 
fluence, and  they  are  entitled  to  such  credit.  The 
great  estimation  of  the  influence  of  the  local  papers 
is,  however,  overdrawn.  The  weeklies  have  under- 
gone a  change,  as  have  the  dailies.  They  are  not,  as 
a  class,  as  vital  as  of  yore.  The  daily  idea  has 
crowded  most  of  the  large  and  influential  weeklies 
out  of  existence.  Where  there  were  vital  weeklies 
there  are  now  small  and  not  very  vital  dailies;  and 
where  these  dailies  have  been  started  the  weeklies 
have  died. 

The  magazines  are  passing  through  parlous  times. 
There  are  too  many  of  them.  The  struggle  for  exist- 
ence is  too  tense.  They  are  too  dependent  upon  ad- 
vertising. Only  a  few  of  them  can  aff^ord  to  sell  at 
the  price  asked.  The  advertisers  have  to  donate  the 
diff^erence.  The  advertisers  have  to  pay  for  their 
sections  of  the  magazines,  pay  a  profit  upon  their 
proportion  of  production  expense,  make  up  the  deficit 
the  subscribers  create,  and  pay  all  the  profit  on  th$ 
[181] 


Advertising 

section  the  readers  should  pay  for.  This  makes  the 
popular  magazines  advertising  mediums  first  and 
vehicles  of  literature  second.  The  magazines  are 
conducted  either  from  the  counting-rooms  or  in  com- 
plete sympathy  with  the  wishes  and  necessities  of 
the  counting-rooms.  The  editors  of  the  good  maga- 
zines are  able  and  honest.  They  have  free  rein;  but 
they  know  what  must  be  done.  Nearly  every  maga- 
zine is  edited  to  attract  more  readers.  The  literary 
motive  is  invoked  to  justify  their  work,  not  to  con- 
trol and  suggest  it.  Every  editor  studies  with  nerv- 
ous apprehension  the  whims  and  predilections  of  the 
people  his  owners  wish  to  enroll  as  readers.  He  racks 
his  brain  to  think  of  something  that  will  be  novel 
and  different  for  his  pages. 

It  is  this  quality  that  makes  of  the  magazines  the 
effective  advertising  mediums  they  are.  They  are  so 
much  closer  to  the  people  than  they  used  to  be,  even 
if  they  are  not  as  consistently  literary.  They  have 
got  so  close  to  their  readers  that  they  now  have  a 
quality  that  periodicals  never  before  had — the  qual- 
ity of  being  a  vital  part  of  life.  They  were,  long 
ago,  attributes  of  life.  They  were  resorted  to  by  their 
readers  for  a  mild  form  of  pleasure,  for  literature, 
for  the  diversion  found  in  the  mild  and  proper  stories 
of  those  other  days.  Now  the  readers  of  magazines 
seek  in  them  some  element  of  their  actual  lives.  They 
weep  and  swear  over  them,  and  resolve  to  fight  for 
this  or  that  reform.  It  is  true  that  they  still  sigh 
with  the  ardent  swain  who  is  pursuing  his  sweetheart, 
and  are  exalted  with  the  poet  who  aspires  or  rants. 

[182] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

But  the  swain  in  pursuit  of  his  Dulcianea  is  also  ex- 
emplifying some  great  principle  of  eugenics,  and 
the  poet  is  slamming  some  big  social  evil  or  abuse; 
and  so  the  reader,  whether  he  wiU  or  not,  is  drawn 
into  the  vortex  of  life,  and  must  be  stormed  and 
racked  in  its  swirling  depths. 

Readers  of  periodicals  are  over-advertised.  With 
anywhere  from  100  to  300  pages  of  advertising  in  a 
popular  magazine,  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that 
any  announcement  gets  the  attention  it  may  intrinsi- 
cally be  worthy  of.  This  is  a  matter  that  would  not 
interest  publishers,  as  they  must  have  a  large  volume 
of  advertising  or  go  out  of  business.  It  does  not 
greatly  interest  advertisers,  because  they  plan  for 
the  consumer  to  pay  for  the  advertising,  and  they 
hunger  for  more  and  more  business.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion that  interests  the  long-suffering  readers  of 
magazines  and  the  students  of  advertising  and  soci- 
ology. Perhaps  there  will  some  time  come  upon  the 
stage  a  class  of  periodicals  that  will  not  print  more 
advertising  pages  than  readers  can  comfortably  ex- 
amine, and  will  not  allow  on  those  pages  advertise- 
ments in  which  readers  may  not  be  profitably  inter- 
ested. This  kind  of  magazine,  with  a  subscription 
rate  that  will  yield  a  profit  on  the  reading  section, 
is  an  ideal  that  is  not  substantially  in  evidence, 
though  it  is  beginning  to  obtrude  into  the  minds  of 
the  more  thoughtful. 

One  of  the  practices  of  periodicals,  with  reference 
to  their  attitude  toward  advertising,  that  causes  them 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  and  that  goes  far  toward  fix- 
[183] 


Advertising 

ing  their  standing  as  advertising  mediums  in  the 
public  mind,  is  their  peculiar  policy  with  reference 
to  charges  for  advertising  space.  In  the  good  old 
times,  when  advertising  revenue  was  looked  upon  as  a 
gift  from  the  gods,  and  when  advertising  was  itself 
looked  upon  as  a  species  of  not  over  polite  graft 
(which,  entre  nous,  most  of  it  undoubtedly  was),  the 
tariff  charges  was  based  upon  the  publisher's  idea 
of  what  the  traffic  would  bear.  One  line  of  business 
was  able  to  pay  more  than  another,  or  was  inclined 
to  submit  to  a  larger  rate.  So  there  was  a  rate  for 
dry  goods,  a  rate  for  banks,  a  rate  for  insurance 
companies,  a  rate  for  legal  notices,  a  rate  for  polit- 
ical notices,  a  rate  for  schools,  etc.  All  these  differ- 
ent lines  of  business  bought  exactly  the  same  thing — 
the  privilege  of  speaking  to  the  readers  of  the  paper 
or  magazine  or  trade  paper.  They  had  the  same  kind 
of  space,  it  cost  the  same  to  print  their  announce- 
ments, and  they  had  the  same  chance  for  getting  re- 
turns. But  they  paid  different  rates.  There  was  noth- 
ing to  excuse  this  fashion  then,  and  there  is  nothing 
to  excuse  it  now.  It  persists,  especially  in  the  news- 
papers. Many  of  the  magazines — most  of  them,  in 
fact — have  a  "flat"  rate,  so  called  because  they 
charge  a  price  for  a  page,  and  corresponding  mul- 
tiples of  that  page  price  for  portions  of  a  page; 
with  additional  percentages  for  the  "preferred"  posi- 
tions, such  as  the  cover  pages  and  the  pages  facing 
reading  pages,  etc.  They  give  cash  discounts,  and 
some  of  them  give  discounts  for  quantity,  for  con- 
tinuous publication,  or  on  contracts  calling  for  a 

[184] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

specific  number  of  pages  to  be  used  within  a  certain 
specified  time,  such  as  six  or  twelve  pages  during  a 
calendar  year.  Nearly  all  of  the  newspapers  have  a 
medley  of  rates.  They  charge  one  price  for  dry-goods 
stores,  another  for  real  estate.  They  have  a  dry-goods 
rate  (in  New  York)  for  Harlem,  different  ones  for 
Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  Manhattan,  etc.,  and  they 
have  different  rates  for  bank  statements  and  other 
financial  advertising,  and  another  for  publishers.  To 
understand  and  remember  the  rates  of  a  city  news- 
paper is  in  the  nature  of  a  liberal  education,  and  re- 
quires great  capacity  and  quick  responsive  action  on 
the  part  of  one's  subconscious  mind,  wherein  we  are 
told  is  stored  everything  we  ever  learned. 

The  magazines  and  weeklies  are  to  be  credited 
with  leading  in  improvement  in  physical  appearance. 
The  newspapers  have  lagged,  and  are  now  not  as  at- 
tractively printed  as  were  those  of  two  generations 
ago.  They  have  sacrificed  everything  to  speed,  even 
a  desire  to  improve.  On  the  other  hand,  the  maga- 
zines are  very  handsomely  printed.  Some  of  them 
go  far  astray  in  search  of  spectacular  effects,  but 
even  those  are  well  printed  so  far  as  the  execution 
is  concerned.  The  magazine  that  is,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  best  printed  of  all  has  a  glaring  defect 
in  that  it  persists  in  the  use  of  a  type  face  not  suit- 
able for  finished  paper.  All  the  magazines  use  a  simi- 
lar type  face,  but  not  all  are  in  other  respects  so 
perfectly  printed.  The  only  magazine  that  uses  type 
perfectly  fitting  for  finished  paper  with  illustrations, 
does  not  use  finished  paper  or  illustrations ! 
[185] 


Advertising 

If  a  group  of  the  large  magazines  would  corre- 
late the  elements  of  their  physical  being,  with  the 
discriminating  taste  and  full  knowledge  they  always 
display  in  the  selection  and  preparation  of  their 
literary  and  artistic  contents,  they  would  be  so 
nearly  perfect  as  to  make  criticism  impossible.  Their 
elements  are  each  well  executed.  Their  composition  is 
well  enough  executed,  their  presswork  is  excellent, 
their  paper  is  as  good  as  need  be;  but  these  elements 
are  not  coordinated,  in  an  artistic  sense.  An  artist 
would  not  permit  in  his  composition  a  discord  equal 
to  the  lack  of  harmony  between  type  and  paper  seen 
in  nearly  all  the  magazines,  nor  would  he  tolerate 
anachronisms  such  as  exist  in  the  arrangement  of 
their  typography. 

There  is  a  class  of  advertising  mediums  that  offers 
a  very  good  illustration  of  this  idea — the  trade  pa- 
pers. This  class  of  periodicals  is  the  best  existing 
example  of  advertising  mediums  that  approach  to  a 
sane  and  commercial  ideal.  In  the  first  place,  the 
better  trade  papers  serve  their  readers  better  than 
any  other  class  of  periodicals,  not  excluding  the 
newspapers.  They  restrict  their  circulation  to  such 
people  as  are  directly  interested  in  the  trade  they 
serve.  They  do  not  encourage  subscriptions  from  men 
who  are  not  actively  in  the  business  they  represent; 
and  they  know  who  their  subscribers  are.  Some  of 
the  more  progressive  among  them  make  their  sub- 
scription lists  a  very  accurate  "who's  who"  in  their 
trade.  They  are  able  to  show  just  what  is  the  posi- 
tion, the  income,  the  history  (in  his  trade),  the  ca- 

[186] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

pacity,  the  influence,  etc.,  of  every  man  who  takes 
their  papers.  They  make  a  very  close  and  expert 
study  of  these  lists.  They  do  not  encourage  people 
to  buy  their  papers  who  are  not,  in  some  vital  man- 
ner, interested  in  them  and  the  trades  they  represent, 
and  who  are  not  likely  to  be  of  value  to  the  adver- 
tisers in  those  papers.  They  do  not,  of  course,  wish 
or  assume  to  bar  out  men  who  do  not  buy  the  goods 
advertised,  but  they  desire  that  their  readers  shall 
at  least  be  of  such  vital  interest  to  the  advertisers 
as  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  best  progress  made  in 
their  special  fields,  realizing  that  the  intelligent 
man  who  operates  machinery  has,  in  the  long  run, 
some  influence  on  its  character  and  type,  and  will 
always  be  something  of  a  factor  in  its  purchase. 
To  these  strictly  selected  lists  of  readers  the  pub- 
lishers of  the  good  trade  papers  present  only  such 
advertising  as  they  believe  will  interest  and  benefit 
them.  While  their  readers  are  steady  and  heavy  pur- 
chasers of  general  merchandise,  and  of  all  the  things 
that  are  advertised  in  general  periodicals,  none  of 
them  will  publish  advertisements  of  patent  medicines, 
proprietary  articles,  clothing,  articles  for  personal 
use,  etc. 

That  these  papers  confine  their  advertising  strict- 
ly to  things  that  are  connected  with  the  business  they 
represent  is  an  evidence  of  the  shrewdness  and 
breadth  of  view  of  their  publishers.  This  policy 
makes  of  the  advertising  an  integral  part  of  the 
initial  interest  of  the  paper  to  its  readers.  They 
know  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  pages  of  their 

[187] 


Advertising 

trade  paper,  reading  matter  or  advertisements, 
which  is  not  of  interest  and  value  to  them.  Accord- 
ingly, the  advertising  in  high-class  trade  journals 
is  effective  beyond  the  percentage  of  efficiency  shown 
by  the  general  periodicals. 

As  a  whole,  the  trade-paper  section  of  the 
great  periodical  family  is  giving  a  most  valuable 
and  significant  demonstration  of  what  the  ideal  ad- 
vertising medium  should  be.  Its  principles  are  attract- 
ing attention  outside  its  borders.  It  is  doing  much 
more  than  simply  to  standardize  advertising  prac- 
tice. It  is  standardizing  periodical  sizes  and  shapes ; 
and  especially  is  it  standardizing  that  extremely  il- 
lusive and  flexible  element  of  publishing — circula- 
tion statements.  It  is  not  only  showing  exactly  what 
the  circulations  of  the  papers  are,  in  all  of  their 
important  elements,  but  it  is  formulating,  adopting, 
and  imposing,  standards  for  stating  and  valuing  cir- 
culations which  will  have  to  be  adopted  by  all  period- 
icals hoping  for  large  and  permanent  advertising 
patronage. 

The  trade  papers  are  also  blazing  the  way  to  an- 
other radical  reform  in  periodical  publishing:  A 
small  group  of  the  more  efficiently  managed  of  them 
has  begun  to  study  the  field  to  discover  what  sort 
are  the  people  they  must  cater  to,  and  just  what 
sort  of  trade  literature  they  require.  They  desire  to 
produce  such  goods  as  will  readily  sell  in  their  field. 
This  idea,  that  the  magazine  should  be  made  for  those 
who  are  expected  to  buy  it,  is  beginning  to  make  its 
way  into  the  policy  of  the  publishers  of  magazines 
[188] 


Present-Day  Mediums 

of  general  interest  and  circulation.  A  magazine  in- 
tended for  women,  for  example,  commissions  an  ex- 
pert in  sociology  to  make  a  survey  of  a  section  in 
which  there  are  10,000  potential  readers  for  his 
magazine,  and  digest  his  findings  into  a  report  that 
shall  be  a  guide  for  his  editors. 


[189] 


XIV 

Mediums  of  the  Future 

A  careful  study  of  advertising  as  it  is  developing, 
together  with  a  corresponding  study  of  advertising 
mediums  and  their  recent  history,  leads  to  a  presump- 
tive conclusion  that  the  future  development  of  adver- 
tising may  proceed  along  lines  that  are  not  yet  gen- 
erally recognized. 

It  is  agreed  that  advertising  must  be  made  more 
efficient,  and  that  in  some  manner  the  waste  of  nearly 
75  per  cent  of  the  money  expended  must  be  reduced 
to  a  reasonable  percentage.  Such  waste  is  an  econom- 
ic condition  repugnant  to  the  modern  conception  of 
business.  If  it  cannot  be  substantially  reduced,  it 
will  be  impossible  to  maintain  that  advertising  is  an 
economical  business  element.  The  items  of  its  consti- 
tution and  practice  that  are  opposed  to  economic 
principles  are  apparent.  Their  cure  is  not  as  ap- 
parent. It  offers  to  the  business  economist  a  problem 
of  special  interest,  full  of  baffling  elements.  It  has 
grown  to  its  present  great  proportions  through  natu- 
ral processes.  Some  advertisers  have  reaped  great  re- 
wards, and  that  has  established  a  vogue  that  has 
drawn  the  great  army  of  unsuccessful  advertisers 
into  the  business. 

Progress  is  being  made  toward  the  solution  of 
some  of  the  problems  presenting  themselves  to  adver- 
tisers, but  it  is  not  to  the  best  advantage  of  inves- 
tigation that  they  are  in  the  hands  of  the  parties 
most  in  interest.  While  advertisers,  through  cooper- 
[190] 


Mediums  of  the  Future 

ative  associations,  are  making  valuable  studies  of 
phases  of  the  question,  they  are  for  the  most  part 
accepting  the  question  of  mediums  as  it  exists,  only 
demanding  that  the  mediums  shall  show  their  hands 
to  the  advertisers.  They  do  not  assume,  and  prob- 
ably will  not  assume,  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  the 
medium  question  in  order  to  determine  and  enforce 
fundamental  conditions.  What  those  fundamentals 
are,  or  will  be  discovered  to  be,  cannot  now  be  fully 
stated.  Some  of  them  come  automatically  to  the  sur- 
face in  consequence  of  the  general  agitation  in  all 
lines  of  investigation. 

Newspapers  appeal  less  acutely  to  classes  of  read- 
ers than  any  other  advertising  medium  in  the  period- 
ical field.  Billboards,  and  all  the  so-called  "direct" 
mediums,  make  their  appeal  to  all  who  travel  the 
highways,  railroads,  street  cars,  and  streets.  They 
are  fairly  to  be  considered  for  any  use  that  involves 
the  attention  of  any  and  all  classes.  The  newspapers 
have  broad  zones  of  interest  within  definite  borders 
running  through  the  regions  within  which  they  are 
able  to  circulate.  All  newspaper  readers  buy  some- 
thing ;  a  large  proportion  of  the  readers  of  all  papers 
buy,  or  may  buy,  all  things.  Some  newspapers  are 
not  good  advertising  mediums  for  books,  and  some 
are  not  effective  for  "chains"  of  groceries.  Some  are 
good  for  jewelers,  and  some  pay  this  or  that  branch 
of  trade  better  than  other  branches.  This  distinction 
is  not  the  same  in  two  cities.  It  must  be  determined 
with  respect  to  each  group  of  newspapers.  It  is  not 
inherent  in  newspapers  as  newspapers.  The  cleavage 

[191] 


Advertising 

is  different  as  related  to  weeklies  and  monthlies  of 
general,  or  geographical,  circulation.  Those  maga- 
zines, weekly  or  monthly,  which  are  sent  all  over  the 
country  are  more  strictly  class  publications,  so  far 
as  their  advertising  influence  is  concerned,  than  are 
the  newspapers,  though  as  to  general  character  of 
content  they  may  not  be  so  strikingly  differentiated. 
Two  weeklies,  the  Outlook  and  the  Independent,  to 
cite  concrete  examples,  may  be  very  similar  in  gen- 
eral purpose,  in  broad  treatment  of  the  affairs  of 
the  day,  and  as  to  literary  ability  and  journalistic 
practices.  Yet  they  have  such  distinct  individualities, 
and  their  readers  are  so  different  in  character  and 
circumstances,  as  to  make  of  them  two  very  distinct 
advertising  propositions.  There  are  differences  be- 
tween all  other  periodicals  which  may  seem  to  the 
superficial  observer  as  belonging  to  identical  classes, 
and  this  difference  is  often  so  subtle  and  obscure  as 
to  tax  the  keenest  faculties  of  the  most  astute  ad- 
vertisers to  detect  it  and  govern  their  contracts  ac- 
cordingly. 

In  their  advertising  practice  the  periodicals  do  not 
sufliciently  recognize  these  differences.  They  do  not 
try  to  select  their  advertising  patronage  to  corre- 
spond with  the  particular  character  of  their  circu- 
lation. There  probably  is  not  one  magazine  published 
but  would  claim  that  it  is  a  good  medium  for 
Tiffany's  advertising.  That  there  is  a  magazine  or 
weekly  published  that  would  reject  a  Tiffany  contract 
is  unthinkable.  Yet  there  are  many  that  should  do  so, 
as  readily  and  inexorably  as  they  reject  the  offers 
[192] 


Mediums  of  the  Future 

of  the  worst  among  the  "cures"  and  fakes.  It  is  as 
uneconomic,  and  as  immoral,  for  the  manager  of  a 
magazine  whose  readers  are  not  in  the  Tiffany  class 
to  accept  a  Tiffany  advertisement  as  for  him  to  ac- 
cept an  advertisement  for  a  cancer  cure.  It  seems 
obvious  that  to  promote  the  efficiency  of  advertising 
sufficiently  to  bring  it  into  the  class  of  economic  busi- 
ness practice  the  periodicals  must  limit  their  accept- 
ances to  such  business  as  they  may  have  ascertained 
appeals  profitably  to  their  readers.  That  this  is  a 
hard  condition  to  suggest  does  not  take  from  its 
logical  reasonableness.  Advertisers  are  themselves 
working  toward  something  like  it.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  periodicals  to  specify  and  exhibit  that  which 
they  have  for  sale. 

This  particular  problem  in  applied  advertising  is 
not  one  that  belongs  exclusively  to  the  magazines. 
It  is  a  fundamental  principle  in  advertising  that 
belongs  to  the  business  generally,  and  its  application 
is  equally  the  business  of  all  mediums  and  all  adver- 
tisers. It  is  very  well  understood  and  very  rigidly 
applied  by  the  trade  papers.  Other  publishers  should 
study  the  methods  and  forms  of  these  publishers,  and 
apply  them  in  their  own  business.  When  a  big  maga- 
gine,  like  the  Century^  for  example,  is  able  to  give  an 
advertiser  as  much  information  about  its  subscribers 
as  the  publisher  of  Power,  for  instance,  is  able  to 
give,  there  is  a  reason  for  throwing  the  responsibility 
upon  the  advertiser.  In  the  case  of  the  literary  maga- 
zines there  is  the  uncertain  element  of  the  news  stand 
sales.  These  would  have  to  be  taken  on  faith,  but  the 
[193] 


Advertising 

analysis  of  the  direct  subscribers  would  cover  the 
news  stand  buyers  with  approximate  accuracy ;  though 
if  the  transient  buyers  were  in  a  large  majority  there 
would  be  an  element  of  vagueness  which  it  would  be 
somewhat  difficult  to  deal  with.  But  even  this  could 
be  handled  in  a  manner  that  would  show  quite  closely 
the  character  of  the  readers  of  any  periodical. 

Such  restriction  of  the  volume  of  advertising  as 
this  would  entail,  would  put  many  of  the  magazines 
in  a  very  uncomfortable  financial  condition.  They 
could  scarcely  endure  the  reduction,  unless  there 
were  compensating  circumstances.  What  these  com- 
pensations might  be  Is  one  of  the  problems  of  the 
situation.  On  the  surface,  it  seems  that  the  adoption 
of  such  a  policy  would  result  In  the  disappearance 
of  many  periodicals  and  the  limiting  of  the  business 
of  those  that  remained.  There  is  an  alternative,  of 
course.  They  might  limit  the  expense  of  production, 
and  especially  of  promotion.  It  Is  no  secret  that 
many  of  the  popular  periodicals  now  pay  a  very 
large  percentage  of  their  receipts  for  promotion,  in 
their  circulation  and  advertising  departments. 
Readers  come  high.  They  are  bought  with  prizes, 
cut  rates,  and  combination  subscriptions ;  and  when 
their  year  expires  they  must  again  be  bought  In 
some  similar  way.  Some  periodicals  get  no  more  than 
30  per  cent  renewals,  upon  any  terms ;  while  others 
get  as  high  as  60  to  75  per  cent  of  voluntary  re- 
newals. Periodicals  that  get  the  low  percentage  of 
renewals  find  their  circulations  a  heavy  burden  upon 
their  advertising  Income.  Those  that  get  the  high 
[194] 


Mediums  of  the  Future 

percentage  of  voluntary  renewals,  at  the  published 
rates,  may  be  able  to  figure  that  their  circulations 
are  not  an  expense  to  their  advertisers.  The  trade 
papers  get  much  higher  percentages  of  renewals 
than  literary  periodicals,  sometimes  going  above  90 
per  cent;  and  they  usually  get  the  full  amount  of 
their  subscription  prices,  rarely  allowing  commis- 
sions to  agencies  or  making  combination  rates. 

The  intelligent  and  economic  selection  of  advertis- 
ing for  each  periodical,  based  upon  its  ability  to 
produce  revenue  for  the  advertisers,  is  a  matter  of 
much  difficulty.  It  is  not  an  academic  proposition.  It 
will  be  brought  sharply  to  the  attention  of  publishers 
by  the  advertisers.  They  are  now  thinking  hard  along 
these  lines,  and  some  of  them  are  putting  the  prin- 
ciples suggested  into  practice.  Such  selection,  if 
rigidly  enforced,  would  justify  a  substantial  increase 
of  advertising  rates,  and  thus  the  magazines  might 
hope  to  recoup  themselves  for  losses  of  advertising 
not  suitable  for  them  to  publish. 

Looked  upon  as  a  matter  that,  from  its  nature, 
should  submit  readily  to  scientific  analysis,  the  whole 
question  of  advertising  mediums  is  in  an  unsatisfac- 
tory and  chaotic  condition.  Nothing  is  known  about 
it  except  that  which  comes  from  the  publishers  and 
the  experience  of  the  advertisers.  The  authority  of 
both  these  sources  has  not  been  determined.  The 
statements  made  by  the  publishers  are  ex  parte,  and 
usually  deal  only  with  numbers.  A  few  publishers 
make  dissected  statements,  showing  who  their  sub- 
scribers are,  so  far  as  occupation  is  concerned,  and 
[196] 


Advertising 

how  they  are  distributed.  The  advertisers  demand 
that  they  know  the  exact  number  of  subscribers  to 
the  pubhcation  they  propose  to  patronize,  and  the 
conditions  under  which  the  subscriptions  were  se- 
cured. They  judge  the  character  of  the  readers  by 
the  character  of  the  periodical. 

When  all  is  said,  advertising  is  human  nature.  If 
the  advertiser  knows  human  nature  he  does  not  need 
to  study  psychology,  because  that  absolute  science 
is  merely  a  formulation  of  what  students  have  dis- 
covered about  human  nature.  The  most  expert  psy- 
chologist in  the  world  is  he  who  is  able  to  move  his 
fellows  in  the  direction  he  wishes  them  to  go,  through 
speech,  example,  or  the  written  word.  Psychology 
does  not  give  the  advertiser  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature.  It,  at  the  best,  shows  us  how  to  apply  our 
knowledge  of  human  nature  to  get  people  to  do  what 
we  wish  them  to  do.  The  attempt  to  apply  psy- 
chology, or  any  formulas,  to  the  work  of  advertise- 
ment construction,  without  a  sjrmpathetic  knowledge 
of  human  nature  back  of  it,  usually  lands  the  per- 
former where  the  versifier  who  wrote  these  lines  (J.  F. 
T.,  in  Profitable  Advertising,  August,  1908)  found 
himself : 


[196] 


Mediums  of  the  Future 

I  can  write  ads  philosophical, 
And  deeply  psychological, 
But  never  tautological, 

To  fill  a  given  space. 
I  have  a  natural  proclivity 
For  appeals  to  subjectivity, 
Always  read  with  keen  avidity 

By  all  the  human  race. 

With  language  iridescent 
My  ads  seem  incandescent. 
Filled  with  sparkling,  effervescent 

Thoughts  galore. 
And  to  frame  up  illustration 
Is  a  pleasant  relaxation. 
Just  esthetic  recreation, 

Nothing  more. 

I  believe,  myself,  implicitly 
That  I  can  get  publicity 
With  ads  of  that  simplicity 

For  which  the  public  yearns; 
But  though  having  each  essential 
That  should  make  them  influential 
They  don't  seem  so  damn  potential- 

For  they  never  bring  returns. 


This  sort  of  thing,  which  is  very  common  in  ad- 
vertising, confounds  those  who  believe  there  is  a 
science  of  advertising  being  wrought  out  of  expe- 
rience and  study,  but  who  do  not  look  deeply  enough 
into  the  questions  that  science  suggests  to  perceive 
that  science  is  merely  the  arrangement  of  facts,  with 
which  it  has  nothing  to  do  except  to  arrange.  In  ad- 
vertising the  most  astute  scientists  are  those  who 
know  how  to  read  human  nature;  and  this  idea  has 
also  been  expressed  with  much  cleverness  by  another 
[197] 


Advertising 

versifier  (W.  Livingstone  Lamed,  in  Profit  able  Ad- 
vertising, March,  1909)  : 

We  took  the  little  ad  he  ran 

And  picked  it  all  apart,  I  guess 
We  proved  him  up  a  foolish  man 

And  left  the  copy  part  a  mess. 
We  told  him  his  design  was  "punk." 

That  artist  should  have  pushed  a  plow. 
But  all  he  said  when  we  were  through 
Was  one-fourth  wrong  and  three-fourths  true: 
"It's  pulling,  anyhow!" 

We  gave  our  space  to  solid  chat 
And  told  how  copy  should  be  "writ." 

We  rapped  his  "selling  plan"  at  that 
And  didn't  like  the  selling  plan  a  bit. 

We  found  a  fault  with  "balance"  and 
We  knocked  his  picture  of  the  plow. 

But,  at  his  flat-top  desk  he  grinned 

And  said  with  reference  to  "wind," 
"It's  selling,  anyhow." 

And  so,  ye  wise  ones  with  your  ways, 
It  might  chance  that  the  seer  is  wrong; 

Full  many  ads  run  many  days 
And  somehow  manage  it  along. 

Dope  out  our  "system"  as  we  will, 
And  to  our  brainy  plans  make  bow. 

What  answer  is  there  to  the  word. 

The  which  the  most  of  us  have  heard, 
"It's  paying,  anyhow?" 


[198] 


XV 

The  Agents 

The  advertising  agents  form  an  element  in  adver- 
tising that  has  not  been  justly  estimated.  They  have 
for  some  twenty  years  had  great  influence.  They 
came  into  being  as  a  purely  speculative  move,  not 
particularly  concerned  with  advertising  except  in  a 
brokerage  sense.  They  bought  space  in  newspapers 
at  wholesale  rates  and  sold  it  at  retail,  not  interesting 
themselves  further.  They  did  not  prepare  the  copy 
for  the  advertising  they  handled,  nor  did  they  make 
advertising  plans.  They  have  progressed  to  their 
present  estate  through  several  phases  of  develop- 
ment. They  are  now  a  very  important  element  in  ad- 
vertising; a  very  useful  and  necessary  element,  in 
their  best  estate. 

The  modern  advertising  agency  is  a  many-sided 
organization.  It  solicits  business,  and  handles  it.  That 
is,  it  gets  the  orders  from  the  advertisers,  writes 
and  sets  the  advertisements,  makes  the  illustrations 
if  any  are  used,  selects  the  lists  of  mediums  (in  con-  j 
nection  with  the  advertisers  or  their  representatives), 
issues  the  orders  to  the  mediums,  checks  up  the  in- 
sertions, pays  the  publishers,  and  has  charge  of  the 
details  incidental  to  the  business. 

For  this  service  the  most  modern  and  progressive 
agencies  are  paid  by  the  advertiser,  generally  a  cer- 
tain percentage  on  the  gross  expenditure — from  10 
to  2,5  per  cent,  according  to  the  ability  and  reputa- 
tion of  the  agent.  This  method  of  paying  the  agent 
[199] 


Advertising 

is  not  universal.  Some  get  salaries,  as  though  they 
were  of  the  executive  staff  of  the  business  they  ad- 
vertise, and  in  these  cases  the  advertising  agent  is 
frequently  consulted  with  regard  to  sales  plans,  of- 
fice management,  efficiency  measures,  manufacturing, 
and  especially  selling.  It  is  common  to  find  the  ad- 
vertising agent,  or  manager,  in  close  relations  with 
the  sales  manager,  and  sometimes  his  virtual  superior. 
Probably  a  majority  of  agents  still  continue  to  draw 
their  commission  from  publishers,  the  usual  rate  be- 
ing 13  per  cent  on  the  gross  amount  paid  to  the 
newspaper  or  magazine. 

From  being  merely  a  broker  in  advertising  space 
the  modern  advertising  agent  has  come  to  be  a  pro- 
ducer of  advertising  business  for  the  periodicals.  He 
no  longer  acts  as  the  agent  for  the  periodicals.  He 
is  a  creator  of  advertising  business,  and  acts  for 
the  advertiser.  He  studies  the  problems  of  his  clients, 
and  recommends  and  executes  advertising  plans 
which  his  experience  and  knowledge  persuade  him  are 
likely  to  be  efficient.  It  is  often  the  case  that  an  agent 
will  advise  an  advertiser  that  he  should  not  use  pub- 
lications, and  puts  his  business  on  billboards,  in  street 
cars,  or  makes  use  of  circulars,  letters,  booklets,  or 
catalogues ;  or  even  is  content  with  the  use  of  some 
attractive  novelty,  judiciously  bestowed  upon  people 
whose  trade  is  desired  or  who  are  in  position  to  influ- 
ence the  trade  of  their  friends.  Good  agents  often 
advise  would-be  clients  against  advertising  in  any 
form,  and  instead  suggest  changes  in  methods  of 
manufacture  or  selling  that,  in  their  particular  cases, 
[200] 


The  Agents 

are  equivalent  to  more  direct  methods  of  publicity  in 
their  effect  on  the  business. 

The  advertising  agent  of  the  best  type  has  a 
beneficent  influence  upon  the  periodicals  he  uses.  He 
is  able  to  give  the  publishers  and  editors  the  benefit 
of  his  close  relations  with  the  advertisers.  He  usually 
knows  how  the  periodicals  stand  in  the  estimation  of 
the  public  much  better  than  any  one  connected  with 
the  periodicals  can  know,  and  his  advice  is  often 
worth  a  great  deal  to  them.  It  is  the  particular  busi- 
ness of  the  advertising  agent  to  study  the  effect  of 
advertising  upon  the  people  who  read  it,  or  may  read 
it.  He,  if  he  is  progressive  and  intelligent,  knows 
what  is  likely  to  be  effective  for  a  certain  line  of 
goods  better  than  any  other  person  who  comes  in 
contact  with  the  advertising  problem,  and  his  advice 
should  be  the  best  available,  for  the  advertiser  and 
for  the  publisher. 

As  the  agent  holds  the  purse-strings  for  so  many 
publishers  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  his  influ- 
ence with  them  is  considerable,  but  such  is  not  always 
the  case.  Since  the  big  advertising  mediums  have  be- 
come so  very  big  some  of  them  are  inclined  to  consider 
the  agents  in  the  light  of  an  unnecessary  evil,  and 
they  have  begun  to  draw  the  lines  of  his  sphere  so 
rigidly  as  to  make  his  work  difficult  and  his  profits 
precarious.  The  big  publishers  have  gone  into  the 
agent's  field  and  perfected  plans  and  machinery  for 
the  purpose  of  creating  new  business  and  handling 
old  business,  relegating  the  agent  to  the  plane  upon 
which  he  began  business — a  filler  of  advertising 
[201] 


Advertising 


THE  FIRST  DUTY  OF 
AN  ADVERTISEMENT 

CONSIDER  the  readers  of  a  newspaper  or 
a  ms^azine :  They  are  not  looking  for 
anything  in  particular.  They  are  not 
wondering  what  you  will  say  next.  They  have 
neither  you  nor  your  goods  in  mind  at  all 
They  are  not  conscious  of  your  existence. 

The  space  you  buy  merely  gives  you  an 
opportunity  to  arrest  their  attention  as  they 
casually  turn  the  pages.  The  rest  is  up  to  you, 
but  the  rest  must  be  right.  Successful  adver- 
tising is  a  peculiar  mixture  of  practical  mer- 
chandiz,ing  principles  and  business  imagination. 
But  success  is  always  a  question  of  degree,  and 
the  degree  must  depend  upon  a  just  appre- 
ciation of  this  mixture. 

Gasoline,  in  its  liquid  form,  is  potential 
power,  but  it  will  not  run  a  motor  car.  It- 
must  be  exploded.  Beware  lest  the  concentra- 
tion on  merchandizing  principles  lets  you  for- 
get the  first  duty  of  an  ad,  which  is  to  arrest 
attention.  If  it  fail,  and  that  leaf  be  carelessly 
turned — all  your  thought,  care,  research,  trade 
work — everything  that  has  been  so  carefully 
expressed  in  the  text — is  lost.  And  the  appro- 
priation is  lost.  The  reader  passes  on. 

That  is  why  we  pay  great  attention  to  art, 
typography,  display  and  atmosphere  It  is  pri- 
mary and  fundamental. 


CALKINS  &  HOLDEN 

250  Fifth  Avenue  /JTLn  New  York 


[202] 


The  Agents 

space,  and  acting  for  small  advertisers  who  cannot 
afford  to  instal  systems  of  checking  and  payment. 

There  is  at  present  in  the  advertising  field  an  un- 
easy and  illogical  movement  of  advertisers  to  and 
from  the  agents.  Large  advertisers  are  abolishing 
their  independent  advertising  departments  and  turn- 
ing their  business  into  the  agencies,  relying  upon 
their  supposed  expert  knowledge,  and  merging  their 
details  into  the  organizations  the  agents  must  in  any 
case  maintain.  This  is  the  principle  ostensibly  under- 
lying the  trusts — coordination  of  selling  interests 
and  reduction  of  management  expenses. 

The  handling  of  advertising  does  not  lend  itself 
to  close  coordination  with  the  regular  executive  and 
administrative  work  of  large  concerns.  It  is  work 
for  specialists,  even  down  to  the  routine  of  filing 
and  correspondence.  If  concerns  handle  their  own 
advertising,  through  an  advertising  manager,  they 
must  instal  a  separate  and  distinct  department 
manned  with  people  who  cannot  be  of  much  use  in 
other  departments.  The  overhead  of  an  advertising 
department  is  likely  to  be  large,  and  not  subject  to 
reduction. 

The  psychology  of  the  situation  is  also  with  the 
outside  agent,  who  has  an  organization  and  who 
may  be  doing  a  far  greater  business  than  the  concern 
whose  advertising  he  proposes  to  handle.  He  has  all 
the  ear-marks  of  success,  and  the  advertiser  contrasts 
him  with  the  man  who  is  his  advertising  manager, 
and  whose  wife  and  babies,  hopes  and  fears,  good 
and  bad  qualities,  he  knows.  And  he  knows  the  failures 
[203] 


Advertising 

of  his  personal  advertising  manager,  just  how  much 
that  young  man  knows  about  advertising  and  just 
how  much  he  guesses  about  it.  The  outside  agent  is 
an  accomplished  salesman  of  his  own  product.  He 
does  not  disclose  his  failures,  and  from  his  appear- 
ance and  talk  the  advertiser  infers  that  there  are 
none  to  disclose.  He  is  a  positive  man,  and  gives 
the  advertiser  to  understand  that  nothing  will  be 
allowed  to  trouble  him,  nothing  be  left  for  him  to 
decide,  nothing  given  to  the  rapacious  mediums  that 
can  be  kept  from  them,  etc.  So  the  capable  man  who 
has  devoted  himself  to  a  careful  study  of  the  adver- 
tiser's individual  business  is  dismissed,  and  the  busi- 
ness turned  over  to  the  agent,  to  be  handled  as  one 
cog  in  the  machine. 

In  many  instances,  perhaps  a  majority  of  the 
large  advertisers,  there  is  an  advertising  manager 
maintained  while  the  routine  part  of  the  work  is 
handled  by  an  agency,  obviating  a  special  depart- 
ment in  the  business  office,  but  retaining  the  invalu- 
able services  of  the  man  who  makes  an  intimate  and 
sustained  study  of  the  business.  The  mediums  are 
selected  by  the  advertising  manager,  sometimes  in 
consultation  with  the  agent,  and  the  agent  sends 
out  the  orders,  checks  the  insertions  and  pays  the 
bills. 

There  are  many  variations  on  these  different  meth- 
ods. In  many  cases  the  agents  do  everything  except 
fix  the  amount  of  the  annual  appropriation ;  in  some 
cases  they  even  have  a  very  large  influence  upon  this 
fundamental  function.  They  study  the  business,  in 
[204] 


The  Agents 

the  light  of  advertising  principles  they  may  have 
formulated  from  their  practice,  make  the  general  ad- 
vertising plans,  select  the  mediums,  write  the  copy, 
and  do  all  of  the  work.  The  principals  are  not  an- 
noyed with  any  of  the  details ;  they  do  not  have  to 
struggle  with  the  new  science  of  selling,  which  they 
do  not  understand,  and  do  not  wish  to  understand. 
They  pay  the  bills,  in  the  form  of  monthly  checks 
to  their  agent,  and  they  enjoy  the  resulting  increase 
of  business.  They  look  upon  advertising  as  an  ex- 
pense, made  necessary  by  the  new-fangled  ideas 
about  business,  but  not  nevertheless  to  be  wholly 
approved. 

The  modern  advertising  agent  is  a  very  able  and 
long-headed  business  man,  sometimes  touched  with 
the  fire  of  an  exalted  altruism  that  has  been  work- 
ing its  way  into  advertising,  but  not  by  that  in- 
capacitated from  making  the  best  bargain  for  him- 
self the  business  warrants.  He  understands  human 
nature,  both  of  buyers  and  sellers,  of  the  advertiser 
no  less  than  of  the  advertisee.  He  knows  more  about 
the  publishing  business  than  the  executive  secretaries 
of  the  publishers'  associations.  He  knows  the  strong 
and  the  weak  points  of  the  advertisers,  and  of  their 
goods.  He  knows  the  public,  and  how  to  sway  it 
to  attention  for  the  advertisements  he  makes  and 
places.  He  is  usually  a  man  of  strict  probity,  and 
always  renders  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's — and  keeps  the  things  that  he  believes  are 
the  agent's.  He  is  a  diplomat  among  men,  knowing 
just  where  to  put  a  little  pressure,  and  how  to  apply 
[205] 


Advertising 

a  bit  of  blarney.  He  must  sell  his  goods  to  men 
who  are  past  masters  in  the  art  of  selling;  and  he 
must  therefore  be  a  100  per  cent  salesman.  His  per- 
sonality is  like  a  human  magnet — suggestions  come 
to  him  from  all  people  and  under  all  circumstances. 
He  is  a  man  with  broad  and  deep  vision.  He  has 
imagination.  The  chance  remark  at  the  lunch  table 
expands  and  works  out  in  his  mind  until  upon  its 
big  screen  there  is  a  vivid  and  detailed  picture  of 
the  possible  campaign,  the  possible  great  accom- 
plishment in  promotion  and  selling,  the  possible  large 
gain  for  himself.  But  the  possibilities  of  the  plan, 
born  that  moment  and  developed  in  his  mind  like  the 
famed  rose  tree  of  the  Indian  fakir,  seize  upon  him 
because  of  its  bigness  and  plausibility  rather  than  as 
a  revenue  maker.  His  bent  of  mind  is  creative.  He 
sees  acres  of  factories  grow  from  the  seed  of  the 
crude  idea  of  the  inventor,  monster  stores  spring 
from  the  modest  shops,  great  railroad  systems  de- 
velop from  the  line  that  as  yet  may  be  no  more  than 
a  right  of  way.  He  is  the  great  persuader  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

There  are  other  kinds  of  advertising  agents. 
There  is  the  plodder,  who  might  as  well  have  been  a 
clerk,  a  tailor,  a  farmer,  or  a  machinist.  He  is  useful, 
to  a  few  men  who  are  too  busy  or  too  lazy  to  do  their 
own  advertising.  He  is  an  inoffensive  person,  and 
does  not  often  stand  in  the  way  of  progress.  His 
number  is  growing  less  and  less.  The  periodicals  do 
not  like  to  do  business  with  him,  realizing  the  abor- 
tive quality  of  his  initiative.  The  progressive  busi- 

[206] 


The  Agents 

ness  man,  though  small,  cannot  afford  to  submit  to 
such  a  negative  influence.  There  is  the  pettifogging 
advertising  agent,  who  ekes  out  a  precarious  subsist- 
ence handling  one  or  two  accounts,  brokering  them 
through  larger  agents,  and  gratefully  taking  the 
Lazarine  crumbs  that  fall  from  the  tables  of  the 
more  provident.  He  is  disappearing,  though,  like  the 
poor  in  the  general  relations  of  life,  we  are  likely 
always  to  have  him  with  us. 

Out  of  the  old  conditions  surrounding  the  business 
there  has  emerged  a  class  of  agents  that  are  unique, 
not  of  the  progressive  nor  of  the  reactionaries.  They 
form  a  class  which  while  they  handle  much  business 
is  on  the  whole  sinister  in  influence,  not  in  tune  with 
the  spirit  of  the  day,  a  drag  on  the  wheels  of  prog- 
ress. They  are  the  men  who  have  sedulously  cultivated 
the  talent  of  taking  tribute  from  both  sides.  They 
are  the  terror  of  the  publishers  and  the  despair  of 
their  associates.  They  chaff'er  and  dicker  and  shave 
and  pare  and  squeeze,  and  thus  gather  their  sub- 
stance. Some  of  them  grow  rich,  some  are  respected, 
but  few  are  liked.  They  do  not  keep  accounts.  Usual- 
ly they  must  renew  their  list  of  clients  every  year  or 
two.  They  encourage  advertising  that  they  may  draw 
their  commissions.  They  do  not  know  advertising; 
they  only  know  how  to  handle  advertisements—  and 
collect  their  commissions. 

The  general  practices  of  the  advertising  agents 

are  constantly  changing.  There  is  nothing  like  a  code 

for  their  guidance.  They  have  just  begun  to  cultivate 

solidarity — to    feel   the   allurements    of   cooperative 

[207] 


Advertising 

methods  and  work.  They  are  just  beginning  to 
realize  that  idealism  and  altruism  are  the  greatest 
money-makers  in  the  advertising  business,  and  that 
service  is  the  magic  word  that  brings  success.  Many 
of  the  leading  agents  have  become  very  expert,  in 
a  formulation  of  their  experience  into  a  very  good 
semblance  of  a  science  of  advertising  and  in  ability 
to  read  the  public  mind.  They  have  become  expert 
analysts  of  business  conditions  in  general  and  of  the 
particular  problem  in  hand.  To  a  limited  extent  they 
are  efficiency  engineers.  They  can  assay  a  manufac- 
turing business,  with  reference  to  the  probability  of 
the  product  becoming  popular  or  salable,  with  more 
skill  and  certainty  than  the  so-called  efficiency  engi- 
neers, because  they  always  have  in  mind  the  capacity 
and  disposition  of  the  public  to  welcome  and  absorb 
the  product.  They  have  evolved  a  new  profession, 
without  an  adequate  name,  and  without  a  place  in  the 
economy  of  business  that  can  be  described  or  desig- 
nated; but  a  profession  that  is  concerned  with  for- 
mulating progress  and  fostering  prosperity. 
^  The  advertising  agents  are  in  a  difficult  position, 
with  respect  to  their  remuneration.  They  work  for 
the  advertiser,  and  therefore,  it  is  urged,  the  adver- 
tiser should  pay  them ;  but  most  of  them  draw  their 
pay  from  the  publishers.  The  publishers  can  ^^well 
afford  to  pay  them,  but  it  is  feared  that  if  they  do 
the  agents  will  not  work  for  the  advertisers'  best 
good.  It  costs  the  periodicals  about  as  much,  often 
much  more,  to  get  their  advertising  as  they  pay  the 
agents  in  commissions ;  and  they  often  have  to  solicit 
[208] 


The  Agents 

the  agents  as  energetically  as  they  do  the  advertisers 
who  do  not  employ  agents,  thus  paying  two  soliciting 
expenses.  If  the  publisher  was  content  to  await  the 
decision  of  the  agent,  he  would  be  subject  only  to 
the  agent's  commission  as  an  expense  on  the  business 
the  agent  sends  to  him.  But  he  is  not  content  to  rely 
upon  the  good  offices  of  the  agent.  He  instructs  his 
solicitors  to  call  upon  the  agent  and  urge  the  claims 
of  his  medium;  which,  as  a  general  proposition,  is 
useless.  The  agent,  if  he  understands  his  business, 
selects  his  list  of  mediums  in  advance  of  the  pub- 
lisher's knowledge  of  the  account,  and  rarely  changes 
it.  He  is  compelled  to  listen  to  the  pleas  of  the  so- 
licitors, and  does  his  best  to  placate  and  soothe  them, 
if  he  must  refuse  them  the  business.  They  spend  their 
time  and  his  without  sufficient  return,  and  thus  in- 
crease the  solicitation  expense  of  the  publication,  and 
produce  the  economic  fault  of  the  publisher  having 
to  pay  two  soliciting  expenses  for  every  contract  he 
gets  from  the  agent,  and  one  item  of  useless  expense 
for  every  contract  that  the  agent  has  that  he  does  not 
give  to  the  publisher. 

This  condition  induces  many  publishers  to  believe 
that  the  commission  they  pay  to  the  agents  should 
be  paid  by  the  advertiser.  There  is  some  reason  and 
plausibility  in  the  position.  There  would  be  more 
justice  in  it  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  pub- 
lishers fix  their  rates  with  the  anticipation  of  paying  ^^ 
the  commissions  to  the  agents,  and  so  provide  for 
their  payment  by  the  advertisers,  in  a  roundabout 
way,  but  none  the  less  inevitably.  As  a  matter  of 

[209] 


Advertising 

fact,  publishers  who  habitually  deal  with  agents  pro- 
vide in  their  schedule  of  rates  for  much  more  commis- 
sion than  they  are  ever  called  upon  to  pay,  and  thus 
actually  collect  from  advertisers  who  do  not  use 
agents  sums  intended  to  provide  for  agents  commis- 
sions. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  present  condition  of  the 
agency  business  is  far  from  satisfactory,  except  in  a 
few  instances  where  the  agents  are  large  enough  to 
impose  upon  their  clients  the  theory  that  they  ren- 
der to  them  expert  professional  service,  that  must 
be  paid  for  as  is  other  expert  professional  service. 

The  business  of  the  expert  and  successful  adver- 
tising agent  is  different  from  any  other  expert  serv- 
ice in  business.  It  brings  to  the  advertisers  very  big 
volumes  of  trade,  and  makes  fortunes  for  such  as 
know  how  to  utilize  it,  and  have  the  goods.  The  best 
of  the  agents  give  a  service  that  is  very  much  broader 
than  advertising,  covering  all  of  the  activities  of  the 
business,  and  many  times  it  is  the  advice  of  the  agent 
that  transforms  a  doubtful  and  difficult  business 
proposition  into  a  great  success.  Yet  the  agent  does 
not  get  any  of  the  usufruct  resulting  from  his  work, 
except  such  as  may  be  comprised  in  his  modest  fee 
or  commission. 

Some  years  ago  one  of  the  brightest  of  the  adver- 
tising agents,  who  has  always  done  a  strictly  personal 
business  and  immersed  himself  in  his  clients'  prob- 
lems, outlined  his  policy  in  the  form  of  a  "credo" 
which  has  never  yet  been  improved  upon.  It  is  as  ap- 
plicable and  apropos  today  as  it  was  when  it  was 
[210] 


The  Agents 

written,  and  as  it  will  be  a  quarter  of  a  century  hence. 
Here  it  is  (on  page  212),  with  apologies  to  the  au- 
thor, and  regret  that  it  is  not  in  good  taste  to  use  his 
name  in  connection  with  it. 

The  matter  of  rates  is  alluded  to  in  this  credo, 
and  it  will  be  difficult  for  a  non-advertising  man  to 
understand  why  it  is  of  very  great  importance.  It  is 
getting  to  be  accepted  as  one  of  the  fundamentals  of 
advertising  that  an  advertisement  is  known  by  the 
company  it  keeps.  It  is  also  true  that  advertising 
mediums  are  rated  by  their  practices. 

The  agents  in  all  of  the  major  cities  have  recently 
formed  themselves  into  an  association  for  mutual  in- 
formation and  for  the  standardizing  of  their  prac- 
tice, as  far  as  possible.  This  is  one  of  the  more 
important  developments  of  the  practice  of  advertis- 
ing, since  it  is  the  agents  that  influence  more  eff^ec- 
tually  than  any  other  section  of  advertising  men. 
They  are  in  constant  personal  contact  with  the  ad- 
vertiser, and  have  a  large  influence  with  publishers. 
An  agent  with  a  contract  in  his  hand  can  do  much 
to  persuade  a  publisher  to  see  the  light  as  he  sees  it. 

Some  of  the  agents  have  for  so  long  been  running 
amuck  in  the  advertising  field  that  the  agency  busi- 
ness has  suff^ered  in  repute.  These  men  are  being 
gradually  eliminated  from  the  business,  or  their 
practices  are  being  reformed.  There  are  two  organ- 
izations among  the  publishers  without  whose  recogni- 
tion agents  find  it  difficult  to  do  business,  and  such 
recognition  can  only  be  obtained  by  those  who  are 
real  agents,  not  merely  representing  one  or  two 
[211] 


Advertising 


0]|CZIOI^|<  [Ql )||CZIOEIZ>|[0 


AN  ADVERTISING 
AGENCY  CREDO 


ILVS/JlVS/JlVS/JlVS/XVS-fJU^/XVS^XVS/JlVl/XVS^y^ULVS/JlJ^^ 


E    BELIEVE    In    strictly   personal, 
professional  service,  of  proved  effi- 
ciency, as  the  only  proper  basis  for  an  adver- 
tising agency  or  for  agency  recognition; 

OIn  an  ethics  of  practice,  in  advertising  as  in 
other  professions; 

DThat  agency  service,  broadly  speaking, 
should  consist  in  general  business  counsel, 
— I  the  preparation  of  advertising  plans  and  copy, 
[o|  the  selection  of  mediums,  placing  of  orders, 
— I  forwarding  of  copy,  and  auditing  of  bills; 
n  In  the  abolishment  by  publications  of  all 

•^  commissions  to  agents,  and  a  corresponding 

D  reduction  of  rates  to  advertisers; 

That  the  advertiser  should  pay  all  adver- 
tising bills  direct,  and  a  fixed  sum  for  the 
agent  for  service; 

In  flat  rates,  prorated  to  one  inch  space, 
and  the  abolishment  of  reservation  privileges 
beyond  a  date  when  new  rates  go  into  effect 
on  new  business; 

In  the  adoption  of  standards,  uniform  rate 
cards  for  publications  of  the  same  class,  and, 
as  far  as  practicable,  of  standard  forms  for 
agency  estimates,  orders,  and  similar  routine 
work. 


0|CZIOEID||<  =30>  ZZDHCZ30IZZ3I 

[212] 


The  Agents 

concerns,  who  are  financially  responsible  and  who 
will  agree  to  conform  to  a  few  salutary  rules.  Agents 
do  operate  outside  these  organizations,  by  the  favor 
of  some  publishers  and  by  the  device  of  brokering 
their  business  through  a  regularly  recognized  agent. 
This  latter  practice  is  becoming  more  difficult,  as 
agents  are  not  allowed  to  split  commissions  with 
their  clients,  or  deal  with  agents  who  do  split  com- 
missions. Periodical  publishers,  in  their  individual 
capacities,  are  also  laying  restraining  hands  upon 
the  agents,  and  insisting  upon  perfectly  open  and 
upright  practices.  One  of  the  big  periodical  publish- 
ing concerns  lays  the  agents  who  may  receive  com- 
missions from  its  treasury  under  very  strict  obliga- 
tions with  respect  to  their  practices  and  their  volume 
of  business.  As  the  pages  in  publications  issued  by 
this  house  cost  advertisers  in  the  vicinity  of  $5,000 
each,  per  insertion,  it  means  something  like  extinc- 
tion for  an  agent  to  lose  the  commission  privilege 
at  its  treasury. 

There  has  in  the  past  been  a  feeling  that  the  agent 
was  an  excrescence  on  advertising,  a  leech,  an  un- 
necessary accessory.  There  was,  a  few  years  ago, 
much  talk  about  eliminating  him.  Nothing  came  of 
it,  except  that  the  agents  began  to  improve  their 
practices  and  to  be  of  real  service  to  the  advertisers 
and  periodicals.  Now  there  is  no  question  of  their 
utility,  and  that  they  have  a  place  in  the  economy 
of  advertising.  The  business  would  be  thrown  into 
great  confusion  if  the  agents  were  to  be  eliminated. 
They  are  not  like  commercial  middlemen.  They  are 


Advertising 

creators,  as  well  as  handlers.  They  are  contributing 
as  much  as  any  other  division  of  the  business  to  our 
knowledge  of  advertising.  We  know  so  little,  and 
ought  to  know  so  much,  that  we  are  inclined  to 
cherish  every  source  of  information,  the  agents  as 
well  as  the  associations  of  advertising  men  and  pub- 
lishers. 


[214] 


XVI 

The  Advertisement 

The  advertisement  itself — the  physical  advertise- 
ment— is  a  more  important  element  in  the  success  of 
advertising  than  has  as  yet  been  fully  comprehended. 

The  success  of  advertising  depends  very  largely 
upon  the  impression  made  at  first  sight  upon  the 
readers  of  periodicals,  and  those  who  are  brought 
into  visual  relations  with  all  the  forms  of  advertising. 
The  first  glimpse  of  the  advertisement  is  the  deter- 
mining factor  in  its  success.  It  will  not  get  attention 
unless  its  primary  quality  is  of  such  nature  as  to 
attract  the  attention  of  readers  as  they  casually 
turn  the  pages  of  the  newspaper  or  magazine. 

It  is  not  quite  correct  to  state  the  matter  even  as 
negatively  as  this:  So  far  as  the  advertising  in  a 
newspaper  or  magazine  is  concerned,  the  attention 
value  of  the  reader  is  primarily  less  than  casual.  It 
does  not  exist.  Not  only  does  it  not  exist  but  there 
is  a  definite  quality  of  other  attraction  that  acts  as  a 
bar  to  attention  to  the  advertisements. 

The  readers  of  newspapers  and  magazines  are, 
usually,  interested  in  the  text,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
advertisements.  The  advertisements  do  not  have  an 
equal  chance  with  the  text  matter.  The  readers' 
minds  are  intent  upon  the  news  or  the  literary  con- 
tents, and  are  not  open  to  the  attraction  of  the 
advertisements  in  an  equal  sense. 

The  advertisement  must,  therefore,  not  only  invite 
but  compel  the  attention  of  the  readers,  if  it  is  to  be 
[215] 


Advertising 

read  and  heeded.  If  the  advertisement  were  certain 
of  sharing  the  readers'  attention  equally  with  the 
literary  text,  more  than  half  of  the  advertisers' 
battle  would  be  won  in  advance. 

People  do  read  the  newspapers  and  the  weeklies 
and  magazines.  They  buy  them  to  read.  How  many 
of  them  read  the  advertisements  is  a  moot  question. 
If  that  proportion  were  approximately  known  to  ad- 
vertisers their  problem  would  be  vastly  simplified.  It 
is  probable  that  the  proportion  of  people  who  read 
the  advertisements  in  the  periodicals  they  buy,  is 
higher  than  most  advertising  men  will  estimate,  but 
vastly  less  than  100  per  cent.  If  it  was  known  to  be 
50  per  cent  there  would  be  a  very  substantial  basis 
for  publicity  work ;  though  even  then  the  proportion 
of  readers  who  would  probably  be  interested  in  any 
given  advertising  proposition  would  be  small. 

To  get  the  attention  of  those  people  among  the 
readers  of  advertising  who  may  inferentially  be  in- 
terested in  his  proposition,  and  to  make  that  proposi- 
tion— his  advertisement — so  vital  as  to  attract 
buying  impulses  in  a  proportion  of  the  small  propor- 
tion who  are  enough  interested  to  glance  at  his 
advertisement — this  is  the  task  of  the  advertiser. 

For  the  advertiser,  the  problem  is  to  winnow  the 
few  and  scattered  grains  of  trade  wheat  from  the 
great  mass  of  chaff;  to  separate  the  one  person 
from  the  hundred,  the  thousand,  or  perhaps  the  ten- 
thousand. 

The  first  and  most  important  thing  the  advertiser 
has  to  do  is  to  get  the  attention  of  the  one  person 
[216] 


The  Advertisement 

who  will  buy  his  product.  That  one  person  is  not 
looking  for  the  advertiser's  announcement.  He  is 
conscious  of  no  need  for  the  goods.  He  does  not  know 
that  he  is  going  to  be  invited  to  seek  for  the  need. 
His  attention  must  be  arrested,  and  the  need  made 
plain  to  him.  But  first  of  all  his  attention  must  be 
secured.  How.? 

If  attention  is  to  be  sought  by  means  of  an  adver- 
tisement in  a  newspaper  or  a  magazine  the  problem 
is  of  a  certain  nature.  If  the  billboard,  the  car-card, 
the  electric  sign,  or  any  "outdoor"  medium,  is  to  be 
used,  the  problem  is  different.  It  is  also  different 
if  any  one  of  the  many  forms  of  "direct"  advertising 
is  employed.  In  the  case  of  these  latter  methods,  the 
primary  attention  of  the  person  is  assumed,  and  the 
advertisement  may  be  shaped  to  offer  its  suggestion. 
In  the  case  of  periodicals  the  primary  attention  is 
the  one  thing  that  must  be  carefully  studied.  A  per- 
son in  a  street  car  sees  the  car-card,  or  he  does  not. 
Nothing  about  the  card  can  compel  attention  if  the 
person  does  not  voluntarily  glance  in  its  direction. 
It  cannot  be  made  to  ring  a  bell  to  get  his  attention. 
But  once  the  glance  is  sent  roving  along  the  rows 
of  cards  there  is  no  news,  no  story,  to  compete  for 
attention.  The  advertisements  have  it  all  their  own 
way,  and  it  is  for  them  to  put  their  suggestions  at 
work.  i 

The  advertisement  in  a  periodical  is  obliged  to 
compete  with  the  reading  matter,  and  on  uneven 
terms.  The  readers  buy  the  periodicals  for  the  read- 
ing matter.  The  advertising  intrudes.  It  is  esteemed 
[217] 


Advertising 


Modern  painters  always  use 


in  their  paints.  That  is  what  makes  them 
modern  painters.  A  modern  painter  is  a 
man  who  always  does  the  best  he  can — 
whose  painting  looks  well  and  wears  well 
and  advertises  him  as  a  successful  painter. 
If  your  painter  is  not  a  modern  painter, 
and  if  you  have  a  job  of  painting  to  be 
done  that  is  important  to  you,  get  and 
read  the  book,  "Your  Move,''  and  what 
you  then  say  to  the  painter  will  make 
him  a  modern  painter. 

The  New  Jersey  Zinc  Company,   55  Wall  Street,   New  York 
For  big  contract   jobs    consult    our    Research    Bureau. 


Good  Display  Without  Effort 
[218] 


The  Advertisement 

as  an  intruder,  in  the  minds  of  many  readers,  and 
instead  of  being  sought  is  often  avoided.  The  adver- 
tisement has  got  to  have  some  quahty  that  will  at- 
tract the  uninterested  attention  of  the  reader,  and 
in  the  instant  of  time  his  eyes  are  within  its  range. 

It  is  perfectly  clear  that  it  must  be  the  physical 
features  of  the  advertisement  that  are  to  be  relied 
upon  to  get  the  attention  of  the  person  who  may,  by 
some  miracle,  become  a  buyer. 

It  is  not  impossible  to  make  the  advertisement  at- 
tractive, in  form  and  general  appearance.  It  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  do  so,  but  it  cannot  be  done  simply 
by  wishing.  Some  substantial  part  of  the  wastage 
in  advertising  is  due  to  the  manifest  fact  that  so 
much  of  it  is  not  attractive  enough  to  induce  poten- 
tial buyers  to  look  at  it,  much  less  read  it. 

It  is  necessary  first  of  all  to  admit  that  graphic 
art  is  useful  to  the  advertiser,  and  to  admit  that  for 
many  generations  the  eyes  of  civiHzed  people  have 
been  trained  to  accept  certain  forms  and  reject  cer- 
tain other  forms.  The  canons  of  art  have  been  so 
ground  into  the  consciousness  of  people  that  they 
now  form  part  and  parcel  of  their  beings.  While  the 
love  of  art,  for  art's  sake,  is  one  of  the  attributes  of 
culture,  the  love  of  artistic  forms  is  a  part  of  the 
normal  life  of  most  people. 

Life,  in  many  of  its  manifestations,  is  based  upon 
artistic  forms,  and  so  sohdly  based  that  we  have 
come  to  forget  that  they  are  artistic  forms.  There 
are  certain  conventions  of  architecture,  for  example, 
that  are  adopted  into  every  form  of  construction, 
[219] 


Advertising 

however  primitive  or  simple.  There  are  certain 
artistic  canons  that  are  at  the  base  of  all  that  is 
done  in  the  way  of  art,  and  much  that  is  done  in  all 
industries.  Periodicals  of  all  kinds  are,  generally, 
made  in  accord  with  basic  art  principles,  and  most 
of  the  advertising  follows  certain  art  rules  and  mo- 
tives as  to  its  dimensions  and  general  characteristics. 

Whatever,  in  advertising  or  other  graphic  object, 
is  intended  to  appeal  to  the  man  through  his  eyes 
must  respect  the  habits,  constitution,  idiosyncrasies, 
whims,  physical  capacities,  of  the  eyes ;  and  those 
qualities  and  hmitations  of  the  eyes  have  been  fixed 
through  generations  of  usage  and  habit.  The  adver- 
tisement must,  to  be  precisely  explicit,  be  a  picture, 
to  appeal  to  the  normal  human  eye  and  arrest  atten- 
tion without  the  conscious  assent  of  the  owner  of 
the  eye.  If  the  attention  of  the  casual  readers  of 
periodicals  is  to  be  drawn  to  the  advertisement  in  the 
paper  or  magazine  that  may  be  in  hand,  the  adver- 
tisement must  be  attractive,  along  the  lines  of  the 
habits  and  capacities  of  the  eyes  that  are  roving 
over  the  page. 

Thus  far  the  proposition  is  axiomatic:  Anything 
must  be  attractive  to  attract.  But,  in  the  case  of  the 
advertisement,  just  what  is  it  that  must  be  done  to 
get  it  the  first  moment  of  hospitable  attention  from 
the  readers? 

It  must  be  made  in  accord  with  a  few  primary  art 

principles,  that  are  applicable  to  whatever  is  either 

artistic  or  attractive.  It  must  be  made  in  accord  with 

the  art  canons  that  deal  with  proportion,  balance, 

[220] 


The  Advertisement 


A  Picnic  Is  No  "Picnic"  Without  B.V.D. 


N  the  country  or  in  the  city,  outdoors  or  at  the  office, 
working  hard  or  'Maying  off,"  you  can  make  every 
day  and  all  day  a  **picnic.'*  Just  put  on  cool  B.  V.  D. 
Underwear.    It  is  the  natural,  national  Summer  Comforter. 

By  the  way,  remember  that  not  all  Athletic  Underwear 
is  B.  V.  D.    Oa  eycry  B.  V   D.  Undergarment  is  sewed 


I 


MAOCrOAfHT 


■gTMTAiipAB^ 


rTtir%   CoaUrtM  I 

For  your  own  welfare,  fix  the 
B.  V.  D,  Rtd  If'ooen  Labtl 
finnjy  ID  your  mmd  .and  make 
the  aaltimaa  show  h  to  you 
That  poaitively  lafeguardt. 

B.  v.  D.  Co.t  Cut  UodmhiH* 


B  V.  D.  Uaion  Sow.  (P.t.  V.  8.  A. 
i-jo-o?)  Iiao,  11.50^  Sij»,  I]  eo 

tad  l5«o  tb4  S«i«. 

The 

B.  V.  D.  Company. 

New  York. 


Well  Designed  and  Good  Copy 


Advertising 

symmetry,  harmony,  color,  tone,  perspective,  etc.  It 
must  be  thus  made  in  order  that  it  may  "look  right." 
If  it  does  not  conform  to  these  primary  principles 
it  will  not  look  right;  and  if  it  does  not  look  right 
people  will  not  look  at  it. 

The  making  of  an  advertisement,  after  the  copy 
has  been  prepared,  is  strictly  a  work  of  art.  Painting 
an  oil  or  water-color,  making  a  pen-  or  wash-drawing, 
etching  a  copper  plate,  or  drawing  on  a  lithographic 
stone,  are  not  more  truly  artistic  work  than  the  de- 
signing of  an  advertisement.  It  is  because  this  has 
not  been  realized,  acknowledged,  and  enforced,  that 
the  wastage  in  advertising  has  been  so  high.  The 
observance  of  art  principles  in  the  making  of  the 
physical  advertisement  would  not  operate  to  make 
all  advertising  efficient,  but  it  would  operate  to  sub- 
stantially reduce  the  sum  of  inefficiency. 

The  first  consideration  in  making  an  advertisement 
is  the  copy,  and  the  object  of  the  advertisement.  If  it 
is  for  a  machine,  and  the  copy  is  strong  and  solid, 
like  the  machine,  the  motive  of  the  physical  adver- 
tisement must  be  in  harmony  with  the  business  and 
copy  motives,  and  strong  effects  sought.  It  would  not 
do  to  use  delicate-faced  type  and  border,  nor  to  pro- 
vide for  too  much  white  space.  But  the  medium  and 
its  pages  must  also  be  carefully  considered.  It  should 
not  be  the  effort  of  the  designer  to  produce  an  at- 
tractive advertisement,  per  se,  but  to  try  and  devise 
an  appropriate  and  agreeable  avenue  for  the  thought 
and  motor  impulse  of  the  reader  to  travel  in  their 
journey  from  the  reader  to  the  advertiser's  desire. 
[222] 


The  Advertisement 

It  is  not  infrequently  that  the  handsomest  advertise- 
ment is  the  most  inefficient.  It  is  the  desire  of  the 
truly  able  designer  to  accentuate  the  desire  of  the 
advertiser  in  such  fashion  as  may  be  the  most  agree- 
able to  the  reader.  To  accomplish  this  the  motive 
must  be  expressed  in  the  language  of  the  reader,  so 
far  as  possible. 

The  general  character  of  the  advertisement  must 
be  determined  by  its  commercial  motive  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  medium  in  which  it  is  to  be  printed.  It 
must  be  shaped  up  in  strict  accord  with  the  rules 
and  canons  of  art  made  and  provided  by  the  habits 
of  the  generations.  There  is,  for  example,  an  inflexi- 
ble law  for  proportions,  of  advertisements  and  all 
other  objects  of  graphic  art.  It  would  be  difficult, 
perhaps  impossible,  to  explain  why  the  "Golden 
Oblong"  is  the  only  rectangular  proportion  that  is 
under  all  conditions  agreeable  to  the  eye.  It  might 
be^possible  to  discover  this  reason,  as  it  is  still  hoped 
that  the  nature,  origin  and  constitution  of  electricity 
may  sometime  be  revealed.  It  would  be  an  academic 
search,  and  not  of  much  account  or  interest  to  the 
advertiser,  who  is  chiefly  interested  in  the  fact  that 
the  golden  oblong,  or  golden  section,  is  the  propor- 
tion that  is  most  pleasing  for  rectangles;  and  for 
ovals,  crosses,  etc.,  as  well.  The  ordinary  book  page 
is  usually  a  close  approximation  to  the  golden  sec- 
tion. If  it  departs  appreciably  it  is  not  agreeable  to 
the  eye. 

The  dimensions  of  the  golden  section  have  been 
computed  by  various  learned  men,  who  do  not  per- 
[223] 


Advertising 


-7 


a.Gomi  &Son 

America'*  Largent    Publikbinc  Houk* 


;F.  COLLIER  ^SON^re  WO/ 
on/j/  publishers  of  Collier's 
The  National  Weekly 
The^  manufacture^  and  sell ^  by 
subscription  (entirely  separate  from  Collier's) 
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•J  Carlyle  (Schidtr  Edition.  tO  voU.) 
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Bdition.iS  volt.) 
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vol:) 
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French  Clawical  Romances  (!0  vols.) 
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tion. tS  volt.) 
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Irvinr.   Washintrton   IBiograpliieat 

Bktition.  /5  foJs.) 

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Ik  voLa.) 

Lincoln  (Ccnffunial  Edition,  t  voU.) 

Mulilbach  (1$  voU.) 

Rcade.  Charles  Upiden  Edition.  It 
vo(«.) 

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tion. 16  volt.) 

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Edition.  8  volt.) 

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A  complete  illustrated  catalogue — loo  pages^of 
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Address 

P.  F. 


Collier  &  Son 


Wett  Thirt»9Hth  Strut 
New  Yoxk  Crrv 


A  Bradley  Type  Composition 
[224] 


The  Advertisement 

fectly  agree  with  regard  to  it.  But  for  the  purposes 
of  the  advertisement  designer  it  may  be  stated  to  lie 
between  the  ratios  3 :  5  and  4 :  6.  The  former  makes 
a  form  that  is  usually  slightly  too  long,  while  the 
latter  makes  a  form  a  bit  too  broad.  There  is  a 
mathematical  formula  for  this  figure,  but  if  it  were 
to  be  given  it  would  mean  exactly  what  is  here  stated, 
that  the  proportionate  dimensions  are  between  those 
given.  Another  way  to  state  it  is  that  the  base  of  the 
figure  should  be  practically  one-half  the  length  of 
the  hypotenuse  of  either  of  the  triangles  into  which 
the  figure  may  be  divided.  That  is,  the  base  should 
be  about  one-half  as  long  as  the  distance  between 
one  upper  angle  and  the  opposite  lower  angle  of  the 
rectangle.  If,  for  example,  a  double-column  news- 
paper advertisement  were  to  be  designed,  the  columns 
being  the  standard  13  ems  wide,  the  advertisement 
would  be  about  seven  inches  deep.  By  the  3:5  for- 
mula it  would  be  7^  inches  deep,  while  by  the  4:6 
formula  it  would  he  6}i  inches  deep.  Either  of  the 
three  lengths  will  make  a  good  newspaper  advertise- 
ment, though  so  much  latitude  could  not  be  allowed 
in  the  case  of  a  page  for  a  good  book. 

This  law  of  the  golden  section  is  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  art  canons  that  apply  in  advertising, 
and  in  other  ways  than  for  the  determination  of  the 
proportions  of  space.  The  axes  of  an  oval  should  be 
to  each  other  as  the  base  and  perpendicular  of  the 
rectangular  golden  section;  and  the  standard  and 
arms  of  the  cross  must  be  proportioned  according 
to  the  same  rule.  The  point  of  balance  of  the  adver- 
[226] 


Advertising 

tisement,  with  reference  to  the  "weight"  of  the 
typography  and  decorations,  is  determined  by  the 
same  rule — it  should  be  at  the  point  where  the  arms 
of  the  cross  intersect  the  standard.  We  may  almost 
say  that  the  optical  center  of  the  advertisement  is 
determined  by  applying  this  golden- section  rule,  and 
if  the  optical  point  of  balance  does  not  coincide 
closely  with  the  mathematical  meeting  point  of  the 
two  sections  of  a  cross  drawn  within  the  rectangle 
formed  by  the  boundaries  of  the  advertisement  it  will 
not  look  right,  nor  be  right. 

It  is  a  very  simple  matter,  once  the  designer  gets 
the  idea  that  this  golden-section  principle  applies 
intimately  to  all  advertising.  Its  proportions  are 
easily  learned,  and  once  learned  they  apply  them- 
selves to  whatever  problem  there  is  in  hand  with  al- 
most automatic  ease.  In  a  short  time  one's  eye  be- 
comes so  schooled  that  there  is  no  need  of  measure, 
or  figuring  of  proportions.  These  dimensions  seem 
to  be  natural  to  the  eye,  so  much  so  that  many  people 
dealing  with  advertising  are  able  to  so  proportion 
their  work  without  reference  to  it  that  it  is  near 
enough  right  to  "pass  muster"  with  such  as  are  not 
sensitive  to  fine  gradations  of  excellence.  But  it  is 
just  the  last  eighth  of  an  inch  in  the  proportions 
of  an  advertisement  that  makes  it  right,  or  near 
right;  and  it  is  the  right  that  wins  in  the  race  for 
results. 

I  alluded  to  the  "weight"  of  the  advertisement, 
meaning  the  mass  of  the  tone,  or  color,  involved  in 
balance.  It  is  plain  that  an  object  shaped  like  an  ad- 

[226] 


The  Advertisement 

vertisement,  let  us  say,  and  intended  to  be  hung  on 
its  axes  in  such  a  manner  as  to  revolve  freely  upon 
either  of  them,  must  be  so  balanced  with  reference 
to  its  weight  that  it  may  be  turned  freely,  and  so 
that  it  will  come  to  a  rest  at  any  point.  An  adver- 
tisement to  be  right  must  be  balanced,  with  reference 
to  typography,  illustration,  border,  and  decoration, 
so  that  it  will  rest  evenly  upon  its  axes,  even  as  the 
physical  mass  of  weight  must  be  balanced  upon  its 
actual  axes.  Note  the  advertisements  in  any  popular 
medium,  and  it  will  at  once  occur  to  you  that  those 
having  the  greater  proportion  of  color  below  or 
above  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  axes,  do  not 
have  a  pleasing  optical  quahty — do  not  look  right. 
No  advertisement  with  the  color  preponderance  in 
its  lower  area  looks  right;  no  advertisement  with  its 
chief  attractive  feature  below  or  above  the  point  of 
intersection  looks  right,  or  is  right. 

If  I  appear  to  insist  upon  careful  consideration 
of  this  matter  of  proportion — the  form  of  the  adver- 
tisement, and  the  influence  of  the  golden  section  in 
the  matters  of  symmetry  and  color — it  is  because  it 
is  fundamental.  If  it  is  not  right  at  the  beginning 
of  the  advertisement,  the  fault  cannot  be  overcome 
or  minimized  by  any  of  the  processes  of  advertise- 
ment building  that  come  after.  If  the  form  of  the 
advertisement  is  not  right,  type  harmony,  good  color, 
right  border,  or  any  of  the  other  physical  elements, 
will  not  redeem  or  conceal  the  basic  defect.  They  will, 
on  the  contrary,  tend  to  exaggerate  it. 

Having  fixed  upon  the  proper  dimensions  and  form 

[227] 


Advertising 

of  the  advertisement,  it  is  important  that  the  other 
building  processes  should  be  guided  by  a  proper 
sense  of  restraint.  Not  that  extreme  restraint  that 


Fine  Trade-Paper  Advertisement 
[228] 


The  Advertisement 

affects  minimum  effects  because  of  a  false  or  artificial 
sense  of  modesty,  but  a  restraint  that  will  prevent 
the  formation  of  a  false  atmosphere  about  the  adver- 
tisement. There  are  advertising  motives  that  require 
very  pronounced  arrangements  of  type  and  almost 
extreme  sense  of  color,  but  as  a  general  proposition 
it  is  easier  to  err  on  the  side  of  too  much  and  too 
strong  display.  Many  designers,  or  printers,  seem  to 
think  that  the  attraction  of  the  advertisement  de- 
pends upon  the  size  or  strength  of  the  type — the 
general  loudness  of  the  physical  motives,  all  along 
the  line.  A  screech  is  heard,  but  seldom  heeded.  It 
is  the  quiet  tone,  the  well-modulated  voice,  that  really 
attracts  that  sort  of  attention  that  prompts  action ; 
that  gets  the  response.  It  is  the  well-balanced,  sane, 
attractive  advertisement  that  attracts  readers.  The 
newspaper  page  that  is  filled  with  advertisements  set 
in  black  type,  with  little  of  the  white  paper  showing, 
is  the  page  that  the  reader  hastens  to  turn  over,  and 
hide  from  his  sight. 

Harmony  and  symmetry  go  hand  in  hand ;  the  one 
referring  more  particularly  to  the  tone  of  the  physi- 
cal elements  of  the  advertisement,  and  the  other  to 
similarity  of  type  and  border  design  and  the  contours 
of  the  type  forms.  Harmony  is  best  promoted 
through  the  use  of  types  of  the  same  family,  or  so 
closely  related  as  to  pass  for  the  same  family.  The 
most  effective  advertisements  are  those  composed  in 
one  series  of  type,  using  if  necessary,  the  italic  and 
boldface  in  connection  with  the  normal,  and  being 
careful  not  to  let  capitals  and  lower  case  clash  in 
[229] 


Advertising 

line  formations.  Usually,  it  is  better  to  use  all  capi- 
tals for  all  of  the  display  lines,  or  none  at  all.  One 
line  of  capitals  in  a  composition  made  up  otherwise 
of  lower-case  letters  is  almost  always  an  offense  to 
harmony,  and  often  to  symmetry.  Capital  letters 
were  made  to  be  used  to  begin  sentences  and  to  dis- 
tinguish nouns.  In  advertising  it  is  quite  proper,  and 
necessary,  to  use  capitals  for  important  words, 
whether  or  not  they  happen  to  be  proper  nouns.  A 
judicious  use  of  capitals  in  this  manner  assists  dis- 
play materially,  being  often  more  effective  than 
"bull"  type.  But  it  is  better  to  get  the  effects  with 
lower-case  letters.  A  piece  of  typography  composed 
in  capitals  throughout,  with  lines  of  equal  length  and 
normal  spacing  between  the  lines,  like  a  book  page, 
is  very  hard  reading.  The  eyes  balk  at  it,  and  that 
fact  is  enough  to  discredit  it  for  advertising  pur- 
poses, for  it  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  the 
test  for  advertising  that  is  back  of  and  superior  to 
all  other  tests  is  its  readability — its  agreeableness  to 
the  eye. 

A  very  common  offense  in  advertising  is  the  use  in 
the  same  piece  of  typography  of  varieties  of  type 
that  are  not  harmonious,  such  as  the  injection  of 
gothic  display  lines  in  company  with  roman  faces, 
or  vice  versa.  The  so-called  gothic  types  are  unde- 
sirable unless  used  with  great  care  and  discrimina- 
tion. They  are  radically  different  from  the  ordinary 
roman  faces,  and  they  clash.  If  they  must  be  used, 
the  whole  advertisement  should  be  set  in  them,  body 
matter  and  all.  It  is  possible  to  make  an  advertise- 
[230] 


The  Advertisement 


W^^S^S^ 


yA 


« 


y:^ 


y^ 


T 


3n  ben  obercn  QSiaumcn  bc^ 
^nftlcr^aufe^,  QSofcftragc  9 


(5^tol^e2tc5er  I 


ju  bcr  §o(f)3ett«- c5ctcrlicl^f  ctt 

be«  g^raulcin  @rila  QHcincrt 

nxtt  Scrrn  Q^ri^  fio^c 

ainl2.QIpriI 

1910 


^i 


I 
I 


Made  in  Germany 
[231] 


Advertising 

ment  which  consists  of  a  few  display  lines  and  no 
body  of  gothic  type  if  it  is  carefully  chosen  and  skil- 
fully set.  The  Germans  do  it,  but  it  is  not  often  that 
we  see  an  American  or  English  advertisement  thus 
made  that  is  even  tolerable. 

The  best  advertisements  we  see  in  the  great  me- 
diums are  those  set  in  simple  type  forms,  using  one 
series  of  type,  with  the  illustration,  if  any  is  used, 
drawn  to  harmonize  in  tone. 

Tone  in  advertisements  is  color,  and  it  should  be 
handled  to  help  the  general  plan — to  help  balance, 
harmony,  and  perspective.  It  is  controlled  by  the  size 
and  blackness  of  the  type  and  border.  It  contributes 
to  the  general  attractiveness  of  the  advertisement, 
and  it  may  be  effectively  employed  to  make  the  ad- 
vertisement distinctive  among  others  in  the  same  me- 
dium. It  should  be  so  used  as  to  bring  out  the  chief 
point — the  vital  phrase,  the  line  or  word  of  the  most 
consequence  in  a  selling  sense.  Perspective  is  not 
often  a  factor  in  advertisements  composed  with  type, 
but  when  it  is  possible  to  use  it,  it  is  important.  Where 
there  is  an  illustration  the  artist,  of  course,  employs 
perspective  with  effect. 

The  logic  of  it  all  is  that  the  designer  of  an  adver- 
tisement should  see  his  advertisement  as  a  completed 
picture  before  he  begins  to  assemble  its  elements.  It 
is  not  so  easy  to  do  this.  It  requires  that  the  design^ 
shall  have  a  pretty  full  knowledge  of  the  business 
to  be  advertised,  the  scope  and  extent  of  the  cam- 
paign, the  mediums  to  be  used,  and  complete  mastery 
of  all  the  physical  elements  that  he  must  enlist.  It  is 
[232] 


The  Advertisement 

not  necessary  that  the  designer  shall  be  an  artist,  in 
the  sense  of  being  able  to  paint  or  draw,  though 
some  facility  in  both  adds  to  his  efficiency;  but  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  he  shall  have  a  very  clear 
knowledge  of  art  and  real  sympathy  with  its  many 
forms  of  expression,  in  order  that  he  may  make  his 
advertisements  in  such  fashion  that  they  will  make 
the  best  and  strongest  possible  appeal  to  the  readers, 
and  attract  the  attention  of  people  who  would  not 
look  at  them  if  they  were  not  essentially  attractive. 

Aside  from  the  strictly  business  motive,  there  is 
another  very  good  reason  for  making  advertisements 
as  attractive  as  possible — the  tolerance  and  pleasure 
of  the  people  who  buy  newspapers  and  magazines  to 
read  rather  than  to  be  cozened  into  buying  adver- 
tised goods.  Some  of  the  readers  of  papers  and 
magazines  do  not  object  to  the  advertisements — some 
actually  enjoy  them,  and  consider  that  they  are  some 
real  part  of  that  which  they  buy.  But,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  advertisers,  the  advertisements  are 
thrust  upon  the  readers,  through  the  connivance  of 
the  publishers,  and  it  is  one  of  the  obligations  of  the 
advertisers  to  make  their  appeals  as  gracious  as 
possible.  As  unbidden  guests  the  advertisements 
should  be  in  correct  garb,  and  irreproachable  in  de- 
meanor. If  the  advertisers  paid  all  of  the  expense 
of  publication,  and  were  quite  independent  of  the 
readers,  they  would  still  be  obligated  to  make  their 
announcements  worthy  of  the  houses  they  are  ex- 
pected to  enter. 

Whether  an  advertisement  is  welcome  in  the  home 


Advertising 

or  not  depends  upon  the  advertisement.  It  may  be  so 
made  as  to  be  not  wholly  unwelcome,  even  if  the  mes- 
sage it  carries  may  not  be  vital  or  altogether  wel- 
come. The  peculiar  nature  of  the  advertisement,  and 
its  mission,  makes  it  obligatory  on  the  advertiser  to 
use  every  endeavor  to  make  it  so  physically  attractive 
as  not  to  be  distasteful  to  those  who  buy  the  papers 
and  periodicals,  for  the  purpose  of  reading  them. 

Optics  is  of  great  interest  and  value  to  the  de- 
signer of  advertisements,  as  well  as  to  the  readers 
thereof.  It  is  one  of  the  elements  in  advertising  that 
has  not  been  thought  too  much  about,  or  studied  too 
much.  Yet  it  is  quite  evident  that  an  advertisement 
which  is  not  agreeable  to  the  physical  eye  is  not 
going  to  get  read  up  to  the  maximum.  It  is  necessary 
that  the  designers  of  advertisements  know  what  are 
the  powers  and  limitations,  the  habits  and  prefer- 
ences, of  the  normal  eye;  which  is  an  organ  with 
peculiar  habits  and  unaccountable  preferences.  Its 
action  and  powers  in  reading  concern  the  advertiser 
closely,  since  if  he  persists  in  making  advertisements 
that  are  not  agreeable  to  the  eye,  with  reference  to 
its  natural  powers  or  acquired  habits,  he  is  tempting 
fate  to  make  his  advertising  inefficient. 

The  eye  demands  more  than  beauty — it  demands 
ease,  and  forms  that  it  can  master.  It  is  a  pecuHar 
organ.  Its  laws  and  limitations  are  just  beginning 
to  be  understood.  It  has  fixed  habits  for  work.  It  has 
been  adapting  itself  to  type  ever  since  type  began 
to  be  made.  In  America  and  England,  and  in  many 
of  the  other  countries,  it  has  become  accustomed  to 
[234] 


The  Advertisement 

the  roman  face  of  type,  like  those  you  are  now 
reading.  In  Germany,  and  the  Oriental  countries,  as 
well  as  Russia  and  some  other  countries,  it  has  be- 
come accustomed  to  types  radically  different  from 
the  roman  designs.  It  seems  likely  that  the  roman 
designs  will  eventually  drive  the  other  forms  out  of 
use.  That  is  now  happening  in  Germany,  where  the 
roman  letters  are  coming  into  use  and  the  old 
gothics,  upon  which  the  German  types  have  been 
based,  are  being  discarded.  It  seems  therefore  that 
the  eye  has  selected  the  roman  type  forms.  Adver- 
tisers may  as  well  acquiesce,  and  use  the  roman 
faces. 

It  is  the  eye  in  its  reading  habits  that  most  con- 
cerns the  advertiser,  however.  The  psychologists  of 
the  colleges  are  finding  out  what  the  eye  can  do  in 
the  way  of  reading,  and  their  work  is  not  only  in- 
teresting but  very  valuable  to  advertisers.  They  have 
not  been  interested  in  this  line  of  investigation  long 
enough  yet  to  have  established  complete  reliable  data 
for  final  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  habits  and 
limitations  of  the  eye  in  reading,  but  there  is  avail- 
able a  body  of  results  of  investigations  that  is  of 
great  use  to  advertisers,  and  gives  them  about  as 
much  information  as  they  need  to  guide  them  in  ad- 
justing the  optical  qualities  of  their  announcements. 

Professor  Edmund  Burke  Huey  has  invented  a 
delicate  instrument  which  he  attaches  to  the  eye  for 
the  purpose  of  recording  its  action  in  reading.  The 
chart  on  page  236  shows  the  action  of  an  eye  in 
reading  six  lines  of  10-point,  old-style  type,  the 
[235] 


Advertising 

lines  being  3  5/6  inches  in  length   (23  pica  ems). 
Professor  Huey  says,  in  explaining  the  diagram  : 

"The  curve  shows  the  action  of  the  eye  in  reading 
six  lines,  preceded  and  followed  by  two  free  move- 


ments of  the  eye  each  way,  in  which  it  was  swept 
from  one  end  of  the  line  to  the  other,  the  beginning 
and  end  alone  being  fixated.  The  broad  vertical  lines 
and  the  round  blurs  in  the  reading  indicate  pauses  in 
the  eye's  movement,  the  successive  sparks  knocking 
the  soot  away  from  a  considerable  space.  The  small 
dots  standing  alone,  or  like  beads  upon  the  horizon- 
tal lines,  show  the  passage  of  single  sparks,  separated 
[236] 


The  Advertisement 

from  each  other  by  0.0068  sec.  The  breaks  in  the 
horizontal  Knes  indicate  that  the  writing  point  was 
not  at  all  times  in  contact  with  the  paper,  though 
near  enough  for  the  spark  to  leap  across,  as  shown 
by  the  solitary  dots.  The  tracing  shows  clearly  the 
fixation  pauses  in  the  course  of  the  line,  the  general 
tendency  to  make  the  'indentation'  greater  at  the 
right  than  at  the  left,  and  the  unbroken  sweep  of 
the  return  from  right  to  left." 

It  should  be  explained  that  this  instrument  fits 
the  ball  of  the  eye,  with  a  cup  carefully  smoothed 
and  pierced  to  allow  the  eye  to  see  the  print.  The 
apparatus  moves  with  the  movements  of  the  eyeball, 
and  every  movement  is  recorded  as  in  the  chart,  by 
means  of  a  delicate  writing  point  operating  upon 
paper  prepared  with  a  coating  of  soot,  moving 
across  the  paper  at  a  uniform  speed  and  making  the 
round  dots  at  regular  intervals. 

It  is  seen  that  in  reading  the  eye  moves  by  jumps, 
not  constantly.  These  jumps  are  called  "fixations," 
and  each  fixation  takes  up,  for  the  eye  to  read,  a 
certain  number  of  letters — a  certain  section  of  the 
line  of  type.  This  shows  why  short  words  are  so  much 
more  agreeable  to  the  eye.  The  chart  shows  that 
usually  the  eye  hesitates  at  the  end  of  the  line,  mak- 
ing there  a  shorter  jump,  or  fixation.  This  indicates 
that  the  line  used  for  this  experiment  was  about  as 
long  as  the  eye  was  willing  to  negotiate.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  trifle  too  long,  else  the  eye  would  not  have 
faltered  at  its  end.  Evidently  a  Hne  not  more  than 
SJ/^  inches  long  is  about  the  best  length  for  the  eye 

[237] 


Advertising 

to  willingly  and  comfortably  read.  This  is  a  very 
useful  and  important  item  of  knowledge  of  the  eye 
for  advertisers.  If  the  lines  of  print  are  still  shorter 
— the  length,  let  us  say,  of  the  usual  newspaper  line — 
the  eye  would  read  with  still  greater  ease  and 
rapidity,  provided  other  optical  elements  were  equally 
favorable.  If  it  were  possible  to  use  lines  not  more 
than  one  inch  in  length,  and  get  good  spacing  be- 
tween the  words,  it  is  very  probable  that  many  eyes 
would  be  able  to  read  steadily  down  the  column,  tak- 
ing each  line  at  one  fixation.  This  is  practically  im- 
possible, owing  to  the  difficulty  of  properly  spacing 
words  in  such  short  lines.  It  is  probable,  therefore, 
assuming  that  the  eye  must  travel  back  and  forth 
from  one  line  to  the  next,  that  a  line  from  3  to  3J/2 
inches  in  length  is  the  most  agreeable  for  the  normal 
eye,  and  consequently  the  most  useful  for  the  adver- 
tiser. As  the  eye  must  make  a  return  trip  from  right 
to  left,  without  reading,  to  pick  up  the  next  line,  it 
seems  sensible  to  assume  that  its  journey  from  left 
to  right  should  be  about  as  long  as  its  easy  range 
for  reading.  Otherwise  there  would  be  too  much 
jumping  back  and  forth  in  reading  a  paragraph. 

Another  series  of  experiments  by  this  professor, 
of  peculiar  interest  to  advertisers,  was  to  ascertain 
how  much  reading  matter  the  eye  is  capable  of  seeing 
at  one  fixation.  That  is,  the  eye  in  roving  over  a 
page  of  a  newspaper  or  periodical  is  capable  of 
getting  an  image  of  so  much  type,  and  transferring 
it  to  the  brain  in  a  form  that  gives  the  reader  a 
definite  suggestion.  It  was  shown  that  the  eye  takes 
[238] 


The  Advertisement 

up  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  inch — an  average  of 
.855  inch,  to  be  exact.  The  experiment  consisted  of 
having  several  people  look  at  type  matter  through 
an  aperture  opened  and  closed  at  intervals  of  one- 
fourth  of  a  second.  This  is  valuable  when  the 
advertisement  designer  is  composing  his  suggestion, 
or  catch  line.  It  should  be  only  long  enough  to  re- 
quire one  fixation  of  the  eye  in  reading  it.  In  other 
words,  it  should  be  so  short  and  compact  that  the 
eye  will  take  it  in  as  it  roves  across  the  page,  without 


• 


Diagrram  to  show  amount  of  printed  matter  the  eye  takes  up  at  once. 
From  "The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Reading,"  by  Edmund 
Burke  Huey,  A.M.,  Ph.D.     Courtesy  the  Macmillan  Company. 

conscious   effort,   as   it   takes   in   small   and   simple 
pictures. 

Another  experiment  determined  the  speed  at  which 
people  read.  Twenty  people  each  read  eleven  pages 
of  a  novel  at  a  normal  average  speed  of  five  words  a 
second.  The  advertiser  may  therefore  compute  the 
length  of  time  it  will  take  to  read  his  advertisement. 
A  page  in  a  book  containing  300  words  will  take  one 
minute  to  read.  A  magazine  advertisement  having 
300  words  can  be  read  in  a  minute.  One  of  the 
fine-type  advertisements  of  motor  cars,  that  are  now 
favored  by  many  makers,  will  probably  take  about 
five  minutes  time  to  read.  Are  there  not  many  readers 
[239] 


Advertising 

who  will  not  spend  five  minutes  reading  a  fine-type 
advertisement  who  would  be  willing  to  spend  two 
minutes  reading  an  advertisement  like  that  on 
page  221. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  work  of  the  psychologists 
to  ascertain  the  habits  and  capacity  of  the  eye  is  of 
much  interest  to  the  designers  of  advertisements,  and 
enables  them  to  make  their  work  more  effective  in 
several  essential  particulars.  These  findings  should 
be  used  in  connection  with  what  is  known  about  the 
preferences  of  the  eye  for  certain  forms  of  type — 
for  certain  designs  of  type  faces.  There  is  no  doubt, 
for  example,  that  a  catch  line  set  in  Caslon  type,  or 
in  Century  Expanded,  will  be  more  willingly  read,  and 
read  by  more  people,  than  if  it  were  set  in  gothic 
type,  or  some  of  the  very  black  faces.  And  it  will  be 
easier  read  if  set  in  lower-case  type  than  if  set  in 
capitals.  The  catch  line  should  be  set  in  letters 
that  are  fairly  full,  not  condensed  and  not  too  closely 
set  together,  if  it  consists  of  a  single  word,  or  two 
or  three  very  short  words.  If  it  goes  to  the  length  of 
several  words,  or  half  a  line,  the  type  should  be  mod- 
erately condensed,  about  as  is  Cheltenham,  and  the 
letters  should  stand  close  together  so  that  the  words 
will  each  be  a  unit  to  the  eye. 

The  question  of  the  paper  the  advertisement  is  to 
be  printed  on  must  be  one  of  the  elements  considered 
along  with  the  optical  question.  Type  looks  well  on 
certain  papers,  and  badly  on  certain  papers.  As  a 
general  rule,  old-style  type  should  be  used  on  rough- 
finished  paper  and  modern  on  smooth  papers.  Caslon 
[240] 


The  Advertisement 

does  not  belong  on  super,  English,  or  coated  papers. 
It  does  belong  on  antique  finishes,  and  on  wove  and 
laid.  For  supers,  English,  and  coated  papers  modern- 
faced  type  should  be  used,  except  the  new  styles  of 
old-style  type  that  have  been  designed  to  use  on 
finished  paper,  such  as  the  Century  old-style,  and 
some  of  the  new  faces  that  have  recently  been  evolved 
from  the  old  Jenson  type;  which  are  properly  to  be 
considered  as  job  types.  The  large  sizes  of  job 
types,  with  old-style  contours,  may,  of  course,  be 
used  on  finished  papers.  They  have  body  enough  to 
give  the  typography  the  necessary  strength. 


[241] 


Appendix 

''Truth  in  Advertising" 

At  the  1913  convention  of  the  Advertising  Clubs 
of  America,  held  at  Baltimore,  the  sentiment  among 
advertising  men  leading  to  a  radical  reform  in  adver- 
tising practice  was  crystallized  in  a  code.  It  formed 
the  most  vital  of  all  the  texts  for  the  addresses  and 
papers.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  announced 
topic,  any  speaker  was  certain  of  an  enthusiastic 
reception  if  he  made  a  fervid  and  uncompromising 
talk  about  "truth  in  advertising."  A  committee  was 
appointed,  and  drew  up  a  code,  which  was  agreed  to 
by  sub-committees  representing  all  of  the  different 
departments  into  which  the  delegates  were  divided, 
and  finally  passed  by  the  convention  in  mass  meeting. 
It  may  well  be  regarded,  therefore,  as  the  expression 
of  some  10,000  men  more  or  less  actively  engaged  in 
advertising,  and  possibly  as  the  expressed  sentiment 
of  the  progressive  business  men  of  the  country ;  and, 
as  delegates  from  England,  Canada,  France,  Ger- 
many, and  several  other  countries  were  in  attendance 
and  participated  in  all  of  the  formal  actions  of  the 
convention,  as  at  least  the  dawning  advertising  con- 
sciousness of  the  world.  It  is  nothing  against  the 
movement  for  truth  in  advertising  that  some  of  the 
recommendations  of  the  committee  were  not  put  into 
actual  practice.  It  is  quite  possible  that  at  that  time 
the  formal  printed  code  of  advertising  morals  was  as 
far  as  the  ordinary  business  man  was  inclined  to  go 
in  the  matter  of  consideration  for  the  person  who  is 
the  recipient  of  the  benevolent  attentions  of  the  ad- 


"Truth  in  Advertising" 

vertlser.  The  several  codes  follow,  as  they  were  re- 
ported in  Associated  Advertising,  the  official  organ 
of  the  Association: 

The  Baltimore  Code 

1.  We  believe  in  truth,  the  corner  stone  of  all  honorable 
and  successful  business,  and  we  pledge  ourselves  each  to  one 
and  one  to  all  to  make  this  the  foundation  of  our  dealings, 
to  the  end  that  our  mutual  relations  may  become  still  more 
harmonious  and  efficient. 

2.  We  believe  in  truth,  not  only  in  the  printed  word,  but 
in  every  phase  of  business  connected  with  the  creation, 
publication  and  dissemination  of  advertising. 

3.  We  believe  there  should  be  no  double  standard  of 
morality  involving  buyer  and  seller  of  advertising  or  adver- 
tising material.  Governmental  agencies  insist  on  "full 
weight"  packages,  and  "'full  weight"  circulation  figures. 
They  also  should  insist  on  "full  weight"  delivery  in  every 
commercial  transaction  involved  in  advertising.  We  believe 
that  agents  and  advertisers  should  not  issue  copy  containing 
manifestly  exaggerated  statements,  slurs  or  oflFensive  matter 
of  any  kind,  and  that  no  such  statements  should  be  given 
publicity. 

4.  We  believe  that  the  present  chaotic  multiplicity  of 
methods  of  arriving  at  verification  of  circulation  statements 
are  not  only  confusing  but  inadequate,  and  that  the  time  for 
radical  revision  of  these  methods  and  for  standardization  of 
statements  is  the  present,  and  the  opportunity  for  construc- 
tive work  along  these  lines  is  given  by  the  assemblage  at 
this  convention  for  the  first  time,  of  representatives  of  all 
the  different  interests  concerned  in  this  vital  matter. 

5.  We  believe  in  cooperation  with  other  agencies  now  at 
work  on  this  problem,  especially  in  the  plan  of  the  central 
bureau  of  verification  which  has  already  been  initiated  by 
some  of  the  organizations  represented  in  this  commission, 
and  request  the  executive  committee  to  proceed  therewith. 

6.  We  endorse  the  work  of  the  national  vigilance  com- 
mittee, and  believe  in  the  continued  and  persistent  educa- 
tion of  the  press  and  public  regarding  fraudulent  advertising, 
and  recommend  that  the  commission,  with  the  cooperation 

[243] 


Advertising 

of  the  national  vigilance  committee,  should  pass  upon  prob- 
lems raised  and  conduct  campaigns  of  education  on  these 
lines.  We  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  advertising 
interest  to  submit  problems  regarding  questionable  adver- 
tising to  this  commission  and  to  the  national  vigilance 
committee. 

7.  We  believe  that  the  elimination  of  sharp  practice  on 
the  part  of  both  buyer  and  seller  of  advertising  and  advertis- 
ing material  will  result  from  the  closer  relationship  that  is 
being  established,  and  that  in  place  of  minor  antagonisms 
will  come  personal  cooperation  to  the  increased  benefit  of  all 
concerned,  and  the  uplifting  of  the  great  and  growing  busi- 
ness of  advertising. 

8.  We  believe  in  upholding  the  hands  worthy  to  be 
upheld,  and  we  believe  that  each  and  every  member  owes  a 
duty  to  this  Association  of  enforcing  the  code  of  morals 
based  on  truth  in  advertising,  and  truth  and  integrity  in  all 
the  functions  pertaining  thereto. 

The  Toronto  Prologue 
At  the  1914  convention  of  the  Associated  Advertis- 
ing Clubs  of  America,  when  the  name  and  scope  was 
changed,  and  the  name  made  "The  Associated  Adver- 
tising Clubs  of  the  World,"  the  movement  for  better 
advertising  conditions  was  formulated,  and  each  of 
the  departments  of  the  delegates  adopted  some  sort 
of  a  code.  The  convention  itself  adopted  the  follow- 
ing resolutions,  expressive  of  the  combined  sentiment 
of  the  delegates : 

Realizing  that  advertising  has  come  to  mean  service  to 
mankind,  and  that  reciprocity  is  the  greatest  force  in  pro- 
moting the  cause  of  human  brotherhood  and  the  world's 
progress,  and 

Believing  that  the  new  humanism  in  business  demands 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  all  men  are  interdependent  and 
have  international  responsibilities  which  can  be  best  con- 
served by  setting  up  ideals  of  conduct,  and 

[24.4] 


"Truth  in  Advertising" 

Wishing  to  secure  to  society  a  code  of  advertising  ethics 
by  means  of  which  the  members  of  each  department  of 
advertising  can  gauge  their  own  conduct  and  also  that  of 
their  fellows; 

Now  therefore,  we,  the  members  of  the  Associated  Ad- 
vertising Clubs  of  the  World,  in  tenth  annual  convention 
assembled,  at  Toronto,  June  25,  1914,  do  acclaim  and  publish 
the  following  Standards  of  Practice  for  the  various  depart- 
ments represented  at  this  meeting,  and  do  individually 
pledge  ourselves  to  cooperate  one  with  another  in  living  up 
to  them  as  the  best  standards  of  right  action  now  attainable 
for  all  those  engaged  in  the  business  of  advertising. 

General  Advertisers 
Realizing  our  obligation  and  responsibility  to  the 
public,  to  the  seller  of  advertising  service,  the  adver- 
tising agent  and  our  own  organization,  we,  as  general 
advertisers,  pledge  ourselves  as  follows: 

1.  To  consider  the  interests  of  the  public  foremost,  and 
particularly  that  portion  thereof  which  we  serve. 

2.  To  claim  no  more,  but  if  anything  a  little  less,  in  our 
advertising  than  we  can  deliver. 

3.  To  refrain  from  statements  in  our  advertising  which, 
through  actual  misrepresentation,  through  ambiguity  or 
through  incompleteness,  are  likely  to  be  misleading  to  the 
public  or  unjust  to  competitors. 

4.  To  use  every  possible  means  not  only  in  our  own  indi- 
vidual advertising,  but  by  association  and  cooperation,  to 
increase  the  public's  confidence  in  advertised  statements. 

5.  To  refrain  from  attacking  competitors  in  our  adver- 
tising. 

6.  To  refrain  from  imposing  upon  the  seller  of  advertis- 
ing service  unjust,  unreasonable  and  unnecessarily  irksome 
requirements. 

7.  To  furnish  to  publishers,  when  requested,  technical  in- 
formation which  will  help  them  keep  reading  pages  and 
advertising  columns  free  from  misstatements. 

8.  To  refrain  from  and  discourage  deceptive  or  coercive 
methods  in  securing  free  advertising,  and  to  do  everything 

[245] 


Advertising 

possible  to  aid  the  publisher  to  keep  his  columns  free  and 
independent. 

9.  To  require  standards  for  ourselves  equal  to  those  we 
set  for  others. 

Retailers 
Each  head  of  a  retail  enterprise  should  dedicate  his 
best  efforts  to  the  cause  of  business  uplift  and  to 
this  end  should  pledge  himself — 

1.  To  consider,  first,  the  interests  of  his  customers. 

2.  To  insist  on  the  courteous  treatment  of  every  visitor. 

3.  To  permit  no  misrepresentation. 

4.  To  discountenance  careless,  slurring  or  offensive  state- 
ments on  the  part  of  salespeople. 

5.  To  avoid  misrepresentation  or  careless  indifference  in 
advertising. 

6.  To  see  that  comparison  values  in  printed  announce- 
ments are  with  prices  previously  prevailing  in  his  store, 
unless  otherwise  distinctly  stated. 

7.  To  avoid  the  use  of  such  expressions  as  "Were  $10," 
"Value  $10,"  "Elsewhere  $10,"  "Made  to  Sell  at  $10,"  "The 
$10  Kind,"  etc.,  where  their  use  would  give  a  misleading 
impression  to  the  reader. 

8.  To  resent  strenuously — to  the  point  of  withdrawal,  if 
necessary — the  "make-up"  of  his  advertising  in  a  newspaper 
next  or  near  announcements  offensive  to  good  taste  or  of  a 
debasing  nature. 

9.  To  demand  of  each  newspaper  evidence  of  the  approxi- 
mate number  of  its  readers  (based  on  copies  actually  sold), 
their  general  location  and  character,  and  a  statement  as  to 
how  they  were  secured — by  voluntary  subscription,  by  solici- 
tation, by  premium  or  gifts. 

10.  To  urge  on  newspapers  that  the  same  care  should  be 
shown  in  admitting  advertising  to  their  columns  that  would 
be  shown  in  admitting  news  matter  to  their  columns  or  in 
expressing  editorial  opinion  there;  that  the  newspaper 
should  feel  itself  as  responsible  for  the  verity  and  propriety 
of  advertising  and  news  in  its  columns  as  for  its  editorials — 
always  giving  assurance  that  he  will  welcome  just  criticism 
of  his  own  advertising. 

[246] 


"Truth  in  Advertising" 

Magazines 
We  believe  the  magazine  publisher  is  a  trustee  of 
the  millions  of  homes  whose  entertainment  and  culti- 
vation he  strives  to  promote,  and  we  therefore  set  up 
the  following  standards  in  the  light  and  obligation  of 
his  trusteeship: 

1.  We  commit  ourselves,  without  reservation,  to  the 
Truth  emblem  of  the  A.  A.  C.  of  W. 

2.  We  commit  ourselves  to  ceaseless  vigilance  to  see  that 
every  advertisement  we  publish  shall  measure  up  to  that 
Truth  emblem. 

3.  We  commit  ourselves  to  stand  at  all  times  for  clean  and 
wholesome  editorial  and  text  matter  and  free  from  adver- 
tising influence. 

4.  We  commit  ourselves  to  our  advertisers  and  agents  to 
maintain  an  absolute  uniformity  of  advertising  rates. 

5.  We  commit  ourselves  to  definite  statements  and  to 
independent  audits  showing  the  quantity  and  distribution  of 
our  circulation. 

6.  We  commit  ourselves  to  maintaining  the  highest  stand- 
ards of  character  and  capacity  in  appointing  advertising 
agents. 

7.  We  commit  ourselves  to  continued  opposition  to  free 
press  bureaus  and  other  agents  for  free  publicity. 

8.  We  commit  ourselves  to  consider  all  matter  for  the 
publication  of  which  we  accept  payment  as  advertising  mat- 
ter, and  to  so  mark  it  that  it  will  be  known  as  such. 

9.  We  commit  ourselves  to  continue  to  give  our  constant 
attention  to  the  physical  presentation  of  advertising,  in  the 
way  of  paper,  press  work  and  general  typographical  excel- 
lence, to  the  end  that  advertising  may  secure  its  highest 
possible  efficiency. 

10.  We  commit  ourselves  to  fair  and  friendly  competition 
both  toward  our  fellow  periodical  publishers  and  toward  all 
other  competitors  selling  legitimate  advertising  of  whatever 
form. 

11.  We  commit  ourselves  to  work  always  with  increasing 
zeal  to  do  everything  in  our  power  to  advance  the  cause  of 

[247] 


Advertising 

advertising  as  the  great  modern  servant  of  the  business 
world  and  of  the  general  public. 

Newspapers 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  newspaper — 

1.  To  protect  the  honest  advertiser  and  the  general  news- 
paper reader  as  far  as  possible  from  deceptive  or  offensive 
advertising. 

2.  To  sell  advertising  as  a  commodity  on  the  basis  of 
proven  circulation  and  the  service  the  paper  will  render  the 
manufacturer  or  the  merchant;  and  to  provide  the  fullest 
information  as  to  the  character  of  such  circulation  and  how 
procured. 

3.  To  maintain  uniform  rates,  according  to  classifications, 
and  to  present  those  rates  as  far  as  possible  in  a  uniform 
card. 

4.  To  accept  no  advertising  which  is  antagonistic  to  the 
public  welfare. 

5.  To  eflFect  the  largest  possible  cooperation  with  other 
newspapers  in  the  same  field  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  these  standards. 

Business  Papers 
The  publisher  of  a  business  paper  should  dedicate 
his  best  efforts  to  the  cause  of  business  and  social 
service,  and  to  this  end  should  pledge  himself — 

1.  To  consider,  first,  the  interest  of  the  subscriber. 

2.  To  subscribe  to  and  work  for  truth  and  honesty  in  all 
departments. 

3.  To  eliminate,  in  so  far  as  possible,  his  personal  opin- 
ions from  his  news  columns,  but  to  be  a  leader  of  thought 
in  his  editorial  columns,  and  to  make  his  criticisms  con- 
structive. 

4.  To  refuse  to  publish  "puflFs,"  free  reading  notices  or 
paid  "write-ups";  to  keep  his  reading  columns  independent 
of  advertising  considerations,  and  to  measure  all  news  by 
this  standard:  "Is  it  real  news?" 

5.  To  decline  any  advertisement  which  has  a  tendency  to 
mislead  or  which  does  not  conform  to  business  integrity. 

[248] 


"Tnith  in  Advertising" 

6.  To  solicit  subscriptions  and  advertising  solely  upon 
the  merits  of  the  publications. 

7.  To  supply  advertisers  with  full  information  regarding 
character  and  extent  of  circulation,  including  detailed  circu- 
lation statements  subject  to  proper  and  authentic  verifi- 
cation. 

8.  To  cooperate  with  all  organizations  and  individuals 
engaged  in  creative  advertising  work. 

9.  To  avoid  unfair  competition. 

10.  To  determine  what  is  the  highest  and  largest  function 
of  the  field  which  he  serves,  and  then  to  strive  in  every 
legitimate  way  to  promote  that  function. 

Agricultural  Publications 
Believing  that  the  growth  of  farm  publications, 
both  in  a  business  way  and  in  their  usefulness  to  the 
farm  reader,  depends  upon  certain  fundamental 
practices,  the  wisdom  of  which  the  agricultural  pub- 
lishers generally  recognize,  we  set  forth  the  following 
as  an  exposition  of  those  practices : 

1.  To  consider  the  interests  of  the  subscriber  first  in  both 
editorial  and  advertising  columns. 

2.  To  conduct  our  editorial  columns  with  truth  in  a  fear- 
less, forceful  manner,  and  in  the  interests  of  better  farming 
conditions  and  better  farm  home  conditions. 

3.  To  keep  them  clean  and  independent  of  advertising 
considerations  and  to  measure  all  reading  matter  by  its 
worth  to  the  subscriber. 

4.  To  decline  all  advertising  which  is  misleading,  which 
does  not  conform  to  business  integrity  or  is  unsuited  to  the 
farm  field. 

5.  To  pledge  ourselves  to  work  with  fellow  publishers  in 
the  interests  of  all  advertising  and  the  ultimate  success  of 
the  advertiser. 

6.  To  accept  cash  only  in  payment  for  advertising  and  to 
maintain  the  same  rates  and  discounts  to  all. 

7.  To  allow  agent's  commission  to  recognized  advertising 
agents  only  and  under  no  circumstances  extend  the  conces- 
sion to  the  advertiser  direct. 

[249] 


Advertising 

8.  To  make  editorial  merit  of  our  publications  the  basis 
of  circulation  effort. 

9.  To  supply  advertisers  and  advertising  agents  with  full 
information  regarding  the  character  and  extent  of  circula- 
tion, including  detailed  circulation  statements  subject  to 
proper  and  authentic  verification. 

10.  To  avoid  unfair  competition  and  confine  our  state- 
ments regarding  other  publications  to  verified  facts. 

11.  To  determine  what  is  the  highest  and  largest  function 
of  the  field  which  we  serve,  and  then  to  strive  in  every 
legitimate  way  to  promote  that  function. 

Religious  Publications 
Standards  of  practice  apply  equally  to  all  classes 
of  publishers,  whether  they  issue  religious  or  secular 
journals ;  but  they  apply  in  a  very  peculiar  sense  to 
those  who  publish  religious  papers,  and  who  should 
stand  for  the  highest  possible  ethics ;  therefore — 

1.  We  believe  in  truth  in  the  printed  word. 

2.  We  believe  that  religion  is  the  most  vital  force  in  the 
world  and  that  the  religious  publications  should  conduct 
their  affairs  with  a  scrupulous  desire  to  measure  up  to  the 
standards  which  religion  prescribes. 

3.  We  believe  that  the  religious  paper  should  be  faithful 
to  its  conviction  and  not  allow  business  expediency  to 
swerve  it  from  its  purpose. 

4.  We  believe  that  religious  publications  should  be  kept 
up  to  date,  editorially  and  typographically,  and  sold  on  their 
merits. 

5.  We  believe  in  eliminating  personal  opinions  in  the 
news  columns;  in  being  a  leader  of  thought  in  the  editorial 
columns,  that  criticism  should  be  constructive. 

6.  We  believe  that  unreliable  or  questionable  advertising 
has  no  place  in  religious  publications. 

7.  We  believe  advertisers  and  advertising  agents  should 
be  furnished  with  a  verifiable  statement  of  circulation. 

8.  We  believe  in  discouraging  the  "Me  too"  form  of  ad- 
vertising solicitation;  every  publication  should  stand  on  its 
own  merits. 

[260] 


'Truth  in  Advertising** 


9.  We  believe  in  lending  a  hand  with  all  other  organiza- 
tions and  individuals  engaged  in  the  movement  of  business 
integrity. 

10.  We  believe  in  service — service  to  God,  service  to 
mankind — and  that  the  reHgious  publication  is  under  obliga- 
tion to  encourage  all  movements  for  a  better  mutual  under- 
standing among  men. 

General  Advertising  Agents 
Realizing  the  increased  responsibilities  of  the  gen- 
eral advertising  agent,  due  to  the  enlarged  scope  and 
requirements  of  modern  agency  service,  every  agent 
should  use  his  best  efforts  to  raise  the  general  stand- 
ards of  practice,  and  should  pledge  himself — 

1.  To  first  recognize  the  fact  that  advertising,  to  be  effi- 
cient, must  deserve  the  full  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
public,  and,  therefore,  to  decline  to  give  service  to  any  ad- 
vertiser whose  publicity  would  bring  discredit  on  the  printed 
word. 

2.  To  recognize  that  it  is  bad  practice  to  unwarrantably 
disturb  the  relations  between  a  client  and  an  agent  who  is 
faithfully  and  efficiently  serving  such  client. 

3.  To  permit  no  lowering  of  maximum  service  through 
accepting  any  new  client  whose  business  is  in  direct  compe- 
tition with  that  of  a  present  client  without  the  full  knowl- 
edge of  both  parties. 

4.  To  avoid  unfair  competition,  resolve  to  carry  into 
practice  the  equitable  basis  of  "one-price-for-all"  and  deter- 
mine that  the  minimum  charge  for  service  be  the  full  com- 
mission allowed  to  recognized  agencies,  and  that  no  rebates, 
discounts  or  variations  of  any  kind  be  made,  except  those 
regularly  allowed  for  cash  payments,  and  such  special  dis- 
counts as  may  be  generally  announced  and  available  to  all. 

5.  To  conserve  advertising  expenditures  by  making  inves- 
tigation in  advance  of  all  conditions  surrounding  a  contem- 
plated campaign,  by  counseling  delay  where  preliminary 
work  must  first  be  accomplished,  and  by  using  every  effort 
to  establish  the  right  relation  and  cooperation  between 
advertising  and  selling  forces. 

[251] 


Advertising 

6.  To  avoid,  in  the  preparation  of  copy,  exaggerated 
statements  and  to  discountenance  any  willful  misrepresenta- 
tion of  either  merchandise  or  values. 

7.  To  recommend  to  all  advertising  mediums  the  mainte- 
nance of  equable  and  uniform  rates  to  all  advertisers  alike 
and  the  maintenance  of  uniform  rates,  terms  and  discounts 
to  all  recognized  agents  alike. 

8.  To  require  exact  information  as  to  the  volume  of  circu- 
lation of  any  medium  used  and  specific  detail  as  to  the  dis- 
tribution of  this  circulation,  both  territorially  and  as  to  class 
of  readers.  In  figuring  the  value  of  a  medium  to  regard 
information  as  to  the  method  of  obtaining  this  circulation 
and  the  care  in  auditing  this  circulation  as  an  essential  con- 
sideration in  estimating  its  worth. 

9.  To  discountenance  the  issuance  of  agency  house  or- 
gans soliciting  or  containing  paid  advertising  from  owners 
of  space. 

10.  To  insure  continued  progress  towards  better  profes- 
sional standards,  through  the  appointment  of  a  standard  of 
agency  practice  committee,  to  whom  all  suggestions  shall 
be  referred  during  the  coming  year,  and  who  shall  report 
their  recommendations  at  the  next  annual  convention. 

11.  To  cooperate  heartily  with  each  division  of  advertis- 
ing in  its  effort  to  establish  better  standards  of  practice. 

Outdoor  Advertisers 

1.  Every  outdoor  advertising  plant  must  continue  to  re- 
fuse all  misleading,  indecent  and  illegitimate  advertising. 

2.  Every  outdoor  advertising  plant  should  refuse  all  ad- 
vertising which  savors  of  personal  animosity,  as  ours  is 
strictly  an  advertising  medium. 

3.  All  advertising  contracts  should  be  started  on  date 
contracted  for. 

4.  Every  client  should  be  furnished  promptly  upon  com- 
pletion of  his  display  with  a  list  showing  all  locations,  and 
plant  owners  should  at  all  times  assist  clients  to  check 
displays. 

5.  Every  outdoor  advertising  plant  should  be  maintained 
in  the  best  condition  possible,  both  from  the  standpoint  of 
appearance  and  stability. 

6.  All  locations  for  outdoor  display  should  be  selected 

[252] 


"Truth  in  Advertising" 

where  the  traffic  is  such  that  it  insures  the  best  circulation 
for  the  article  advertised. 

7.  Care  should  be  exercised  by  every  plant  owner  in  the 
selection  of  locations  so  as  not  to  cause  friction  either  with 
the  municipal  authorities  or  the  people  of  the  neighborhood. 

8.  A  rule  of  one-rate-to-all  and  one  high-grade  class  of 
service  to  every  advertiser  must  be  rigidly  maintained. 

9.  Every  effort  should  be  made  to  constantly  raise  out- 
door advertising  copy  to  the  maximum  efficiency  in  policy, 
ideas  and  execution. 

ID.  Recognizing  the  great  power  of  our  medium,  we 
should  use  it  for  the  general  good  by  devoting  space  to 
matters  of  general  happiness  and  welfare. 

11.  We  believe  in  close  association  among  members  of 
our  own  branch  of  advertising  to  the  end  that  greater  effi- 
ciency be  attained  through  the  interchange  of  ideas. 

12.  We  believe  in  hearty  cooperation  between  the  outdoor 
advertising  interests  and  all  other  legitimate  branches  of 
publicity. 

13.  We  believe  in  the  solicitation  of  business  on  the  basis 
of  respect  for  the  value  of  all  other  good  media. 

14.  We  believe  in  dissuading  the  would-be  advertiser 
from  starting  a  campaign,  when,  in  our  judgment,  his  prod- 
uct, his  facilities,  his  available  funds,  or  some  other  factor, 
makes  his  success  doubtful. 

Direct  Advertising 
Every  advertising  manager  or  business  executive 
in  charge  of  merchandising  estabhshments,  also  every 
advertising  counselor  in  dealing  with  his  clients, 
should  dedicate  his  best  efforts  to  making  truthful, 
direct  advertising  an  efficient  aid  to  business  and 
should  pledge  himself — 

I.  To  study  carefully  his  proposition  and  his  field  to  find 
out  what  kind  of  advertising  applies.  The  reason  for  every 
advertising  failure  is  that  the  right  kind  of  advertising  and 
proper  application  for  the  particular  product  and  market 
were  not  used.  The  only  forms  of  advertising  which  are  best 
for  any  purpose  are  those  which  produce  the  most  profit. 

[^53] 


Advertising 

2.  To  bring  direct  advertising  to  the  attention  of  con- 
cerns who  have  never  realized  its  possibilities.  Many  con- 
cerns do  not  advertise  because  they  do  not  know  that  ad- 
vertising can  be  started  at  small  expense.  They  confuse 
advertising  with  expensive  campaigns  and  hesitate  to  com- 
pete with  others  already  doing  general  publicity. 

3.  To  determine  the  different  ways  in  which  direct  adver- 
tising can  be  used  to  effectively  supplement  other  forms  of 
advertising  and  to  so  study  the  other  forms  used  that  the 
direct  advertising  may  become  a  component  part  of  the 
entire  publicity  plan, 

4.  To  study  the  special  advantages  of  direct  advertising 
such  as  individuality,  privacy  of  plan;  facility  for  accompany- 
ing with  the  advertisement  samples,  postals,  return  en- 
velopes, inquiry  or  other  blanks;  ability  to  reach  special 
groups  or  places;  personal  control  of  advertising  up  to  the 
minute  of  mailing,  and  other  recognized  advantages. 

5.  To  strengthen  the  bond  between  manufacturer  and 
dealer  by  encouraging  the  manufacturer  to  prepare  direct 
advertising  matter  for  the  dealer,  so  well  printed  with  his 
name,  address  and  business  card  as  to  make  him  glad  to 
distribute  it,  providing  always  the  cost  of  special  imprinting 
is  in  proportion  to  the  benefits  to  be  derived, 

6.  To  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  test  out  let- 
ters and  literature  on  a  portion  of  a  list  before  sending  them 
out  to  the  entire  list.  Wherever  it  is  possible  for  an  adver- 
tiser to  approximate  in  advance  his  returns  from  his  adver- 
tising he  has  made  his  advertising  more  efficient.  Direct 
advertising  makes  this  possible.  Testing  out  direct  advertis- 
ing campaigns  in  advance  does  much  to  remove  the  ele- 
ment of  chance, 

7.  To  consider  inquiries  as  valuable  only  as  they  can  be 
turned  into  sales.  An  inquiry  is  a  means  to  an  end — not  an 
end  in  itself.  The  disposition  to  consider  cost  per  inquiry 
instead  of  cost  per  sale  has  led  many  a  firm  to  false  analysis. 

8.  To  give  the  mailing  list  its  proper  importance.  Many 
advertisers  use  poorly  prepared  mailing  lists,  which  are 
compiled  in  a  careless,  haphazard  manner,  and  never  take 
the  trouble  to  check  them  up  or  expand  them.  Mailing  lists 
should  be  constantly  revised.  Poor  lists  and  old  lists  cost 
money  in  two   ways:   one  by   missing  good   prospects   and 

[254] 


"Truth  in  Advertising" 

thereby  losing  sales  and  the  other  by  money  spent  on  use- 
less names. 

9.  To  encourage  the  use  of  direct  advertising  as  an  edu- 
cational factor  within  their  organizations  with  sales  forces 
and  dealers.  Many  concerns  have  raised  their  standards  of 
efficiency  through  the  use  of  letters,  house  organs,  bulletins, 
mailing  cards,  folders,  etc. 

10.  To  champion  direct  advertising  in  the  right  way. 
General  publicity  and  direct  advertising  are  two  servants  of 
business  and  each  has  its  place  and  its  work  to  do.  No  form 
of  advertising  should  ever  attack  another  form  of  advertis- 
ing as  such. 

Directories 
The  publisher  of  a  directory  should  dedicate  his 
best  efforts  to  the  cause  of  business  uplift  and  social 
service,  and  to  this  end  should  pledge  himself — 

1.  To  consider,  first,  the  interests  of  the  user  of  the  book. 

2.  To  subscribe  to  and  work  for  truth,  honesty  and  ac- 
curacy in  all  departments. 

3.  To  avoid  confusing  duplication  of  listings,  endeavoring 
to  classify  every  concern  under  the  one  heading  that  best 
describes  it,  and  to  treat  additional  listings  as  advertising, 
to  be  charged  for  at  regular  rates. 

4.  To  increase  public  knowledge  of  what  directories  con- 
tain; to  study  public  needs  and  make  directories  to  supply 
them;  to  revise  and  standardize  methods  and  classifications, 
so  that  what  is  wanted  may  be  most  easily  found,  and  the 
directory  be  made  to  serve  its  fullest  use  as  a  business  and 
social  reference  book  and  director  of  buyer  to  seller. 

5.  To  decline  any  advertisement  which  has  a  tendency  to 
mislead  or  which  does  not  conform  to  business  integrity. 

6.  To  solicit  subscriptions  and  advertising  solely  upon  the 
merits  of  the  publication. 

7.  To  avoid  misrepresentation  by  statement  or  inference 
regarding  circulation,  placing  the  test  of  reference  publicity 
upon  its  accessibility  to  seekers,  rather  than  on  the  number 
of  copies  sold. 

8.  To  cooperate  with  approved  organizations  and  indi- 
viduals engaged  in  creative  advertising  work. 

[255] 


Advertising 

9.  To  avoid  unfair  competition, 

ID.  To  determine  what  is  the  highest  and  largest  function 
of  directories  in  public  service,  and  then  to  strive  in  every 
legitimate  way  to  promote  that  function. 

Printing 

The  members  of  the  department  of  printing  and 

engraving  of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the 

World  dedicate  their  best  efforts  to  business  uplift 

and  social  service  and  to  this  end  pledge  themselves — 

1.  To  give  full  value  for  every  dollar  received. 

2.  To  charge  fair  prices,  viz.:  known  cost  plus  a  reason- 
able profit. 

3.  To  subscribe  to  and  work  for  truth  and  honesty  in 
business;  to  avoid  substitution,  broken  promises,  unbusi- 
nesslike methods. 

4.  To  cooperate  in  establishing  and  maintaining  approved 
business  ethics. 

5.  To  be  original  producers  and  creators,  not  copyists. 

6.  To  be  promotive,  looking  to  the  needs  of  the  cus- 
tomer, analyzing  his  requirements  and  devising  new  and 
effective  means  for  promoting  and  extending  his  business. 

7.  To  place  emphasis  upon  quality  rather  than  price,  ser- 
vice to  the  customer  being  the  first  consideration. 

8.  To  merit  the  support  of  buyers  of  their  product  by 
living  up  to  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter  of  these  standards. 

9.  To  develop  by  cooperation  with  other  departments  of 
the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  an  ever-strengthening  bond 
of  union  to  the  end  that  the  service  rendered  to  advertising 
by  the  graphic  arts  may  achieve  its  highest  eflficiency. 

10.  To  aid  in  securing  just  and  harmonious  relations 
between  employer  and  employed  by  establishing  honorable 
conditions  of  employment. 

Photo-Engravers 
The  photo-engraver,  realizing  the  importance  of 
his  calling  and  the  influence  his  products  wield  upon 
humanity  at  large  and  business  in  particular,  volun- 

[256] 


"Truth  in  Advertising" 

tarily  sets  up  the  following  standards  to  serve  as  a 
guide  in  his  relations  with  the  public  and  pledges 
himself  to  observe  them  faithfully : 

T.  Being  the  interpreter  of  art  and  the  manufacturer  of  a 
sales-producing  medium,  he  commits  himself  unqualifiedly  to 
truth. 

2.  To  cooperate  with  all  organizations  and  individuals 
engaged  in  uplifting  advertising  in  all  its  branches. 

3.  To  remove  all  mystery  and  misrepresentation  sur- 
rounding his  craft  and  his  products,  and  to  at  all  times  wel- 
come an  opportunity  to  explain  its  intricacies  to  any  one 
interested. 

4.  To  study  the  requirements  of  his  customer  and  to  give 
the  latter  the  benefit  of  his  expert  experience  and  advice,  so 
that  the  buyer  of  engravings  may  consider  them  a  sound 
investment  instead  of  an  expense,  and  profit  by  their  use. 

5.  To  serve  the  public  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and 
ability  for  a  fair  remuneration. 

6.  To  know  his  costs,  and  to  maintain  at  all  times  a 
standard  of  charges  that  will  honestly  cover  all  costs  of 
service  rendered  both  in  the  preliminary  preparation  of 
work  and  in  its  execution,  and  to  prohibit  all  gratuitous 
service  or  delivery  of  value  without  full  compensation. 

7.  To  stand  upon  the  fact  that  the  cost  for  making  photo- 
engravings is  the  same  for  one  buyer  as  for  another,  and 
that  he  who  buys  to  sell  again  should  charge  his  customers 
a  fee  for  the  value  of  the  service  which  he  individually 
renders. 

8.  To  avoid  the  making  of  false  promises  and  the  disap- 
pointments and  losses  connected  therewith,  and  to  under- 
take to  do  no  more  than  the  plant  is  equipped  to  handle 
efficiently. 

9,  To  educate  the  buyer  of  engravings  in  the  technical 
knowledge  necessary  for  him  to  buy  them  intelligently  and 
to  bring  him  up  to  an  appreciation  of  "quality"  in  engravings. 

10.  To  stand  ready  at  all  times  to  do  his  share  towards 
improving,  not  only  his  own  product,  but  to  disseminate 
knowledge  concerning  its  proper  use,  to  raise  the  standard 
of  advertising  from  the  purely  materialistic  to  the  artistic 

[267] 


Advertising 

and  to  add  to  its  sales  efficiency  by  all  means  within  his 
power. 

House  Organs 
In  order  that  the  house  organ  shall  have  a  clear 
field  for  its  development  along  lines  of  efficient  and 
practical  service  in  the  advertising  field,  the  follow- 
ing standards  of  practice  for  house  organs  is 
respectfully  recommended  : 

1.  To  refuse  to  give  or  receive  advertisements  as  favors 
or  concessions,  but  only  for  a  valuable  consideration. 

2.  To  charge,  at  a  fair  and  profitable  rate,  for  all  circula- 
tion which  does  not  tend  toward  directly  carrying  out  the 
objects  and  purposes  for  which  the  house  organ  is  issued. 

3.  To  decline  any  advertisement  which  has  a  tendency  to 
mislead  or  which  is  not  otherwise  in  accord  with  good 
business  practices. 

4.  To  exchange  circulation  with  other  house  organ  pub- 
lishers, with  the  idea  and  purpose  of  increasing  the  effective- 
ness of  house  organs  generally. 

5.  To  give  full  credit  to  those  to  whom  credit  is  justly 
due  for  all  subject  matter  taken  from  other  publications. 

6.  To  promote  originality  in  the  make-up  and  reading 
matter  of  the  individual  house  organ. 

7.  To  publish  nothing  but  the  truth. 

8.  To  promote  the  spirit  of  optimism,  thereby  making 
the  house  organ  always  a  message  of  good  cheer  and 
encouragement. 

9.  To  avoid  derogatory  references  to  all  competitors. 

10.  To  have  it  understood  and  declared  that  the  house 
organ  publisher  recognizes  the  rights  and  purposes  of  the 
respective  trade  publications,  and  that  the  house  organ  is 
not  to  supplant  but  to  supplement  the  trade  papers. 


[258] 


'T>    ATJ'^ 


1 


14  DAY  USE 

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